


Heartbeat Song

by AlyssaTargaryen



Category: Actor RPF, Captain America (Movies) RPF, Chris Evans - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Actor - Freeform, Boston, Classical Music, F/M, Family, Flirting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, LA, Los Angeles, Love, Massachusetts, Mild Angst, Music, Musicians, Orchestra, Other Countries - Freeform, Past Abuse, Probably a Mary Sue, Romance, Slow Burn, Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-07-10 14:45:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 45,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6989767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyssaTargaryen/pseuds/AlyssaTargaryen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say you can't choose your family. Well, what if the family you were born into never wanted you to begin with? Astraea Kingston has lived her entire life with only one dream; to belong to a family who wants her just as much as she wants them...after 24 years on this earth, she finds that family. Relationships form, trust grows, bonds are made, and certain love blooms.<br/>Yeah, you can't choose the family you're born into, but you can definitely choose the one's you love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let's Begin...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, my first story ever to post on the public web....in my life.....oh my god I'm so nervous *heavy breathing*. Please be gentle with me. 
> 
> So with this story, even though it may not seem like it in the first chapter, it is 100% a Chris Evans/OC story. I'm just building up my OC's background and characterization and whatnot. Also, just to let you know, my OC's name is Astraea; pronounced Uh-stray-yuh, and her nickname Rae or Raea is pronounced Ray and Ray-uh respectively. It's just a really unique name I saw in another story I read. I thought it was beautiful and I fell in love with it.
> 
> Anyway, if you managed to randomly stumble upon my humble story, I hope you like it!!

**Boston, Massachusetts**

**August 2011**

Walking through the hallways of Spectrum Recording Theater, Cara Marie Coleman was a woman on a mission. Headed towards the double mahogany doors at the end of the hallway, her heeled feet gliding across the carpeted floors, she was about to come face to face with one of the best in the music industry.

With her dark brown hair swishing behind her, and her skinny jean clad legs walking in determination, Cara thought about whom she was soon to come face to face with.

Astraea Kingston: brilliant, beautiful, child prodigy, musical genius, high school graduate at fourteen, head of her own production company, and one of the most successful composers and music producers in the world at 24. It’s been said a million times about a million girls, but it rings true for Astraea. Every guy wants her, and every girl wants to be her. Unfortunately for the guys, she’s not a fish in the sea that’s easily caught, and extremely conflicting for the jealous and petty girls, Astraea is the kindest and most thoughtful woman in the world.

No one would ever imagine though, how much pain Astraea has been through in her 24 years of life. Her smile hides a thousand scars and a scattering of bruises; her blue eyes mask a childhood of abuse and neglect. If her past were a song, it would be a concerto of torment, filled with screaming violins and weeping cellos.

Not many are privy to her past though. Very few know of Astraea’s struggles and what she’s overcome. Few know and Cara is included in that list, which is why Cara Coleman is one of the few people on the planet who is allowed to do what she’s about to do and get away with it.

Walking past the desk of Astraea’s assistant, Donna, she smiled as she locked eyes with the middle-aged red head and received a smile in return. No words needed to be said between the two. No words ever had to be said given who Cara was to Astraea. Reaching the mahogany doors, Cara opened them with a flourish and strolled into the sun filled office like she owned the place. She bypassed the sitting area to the left and veered right, walking up to the blonde beauty sitting at the wooden desk, the early afternoon light giving the woman an almost ethereal glow.

“Can you do me a huge favor?”

Astraea looked up from the splattering of music sheets that were lying on her desk to lock eyes with her best friend of sixteen years and by an amazing stroke of luck (and by luck she means a copious amount of planning and scheming on both their parts) her colleague.

Smirking, Astraea let her eyes wander back down to her work, her pen tweaking a note here, adding a note there, “Sure, Cara, let’s add it to the list of favors I’ve been doing for you since I met you. The very first favor being when I was but a tiny little eight-year-old defending your 11-year-old ass against bullies in the sixth grade.”

“First of all, thank you for defending my 11-year-old ass. How lucky was I that you were able to skip three grades just to save little old me,” Cara said with a wide grin, “and second of all, you and I both know that if you weren’t such a wonderful and kindhearted person, that list of favors would lose a couple of pages.”  

“A couple pages? More like a couple of novels,” laughed Astraea while continuing her editing. “I’m pretty sure the amount of favors that I’ve done for you could fill up more books than the _Harry Potter_ series.”

“Well you can stop doing me favors anytime you want, you just have to look into my puppy dog eyes and tell me no.” Cara leaned on the desk with both hands, turned her lips into a pout, and gave Astraea her most defeated look, all the while knowing that the compassion that consumed her friend would win out.

Astraea gave her friend a deadpan look for about 5 seconds before she sighed in defeat. Dropping her pen, Astraea rubbed at her eyes to get rid of the blurriness, “Fine, what do you need?”

Clapping her hands in excitement, Cara plopped down into the chair sitting on the other side of the elaborate wooden desk. “As you know, Aiden is taking acting lessons at the Concord Youth Theatre and he’s been cast in the Peter Pan play that they’re going to be showing at the beginning of November.”

“Oh yeah, you mentioned that he’d been cast in the play,” said Astraea, leaning back in her chair, “which character is he going to be?”

“He’ll be playing Michael, Wendy’s youngest brother,” said Cara with a smile. “You have no idea how excited he was when I told him that he got the part. He went on and on about it for hours. I swear, I don’t know how so much energy can be cramped into his tiny six-year-old body.”

“Are you surprised? I remember how hyper you were when we were kids,” Astraea said with a breathless laugh, “Heaven forbid if you got any sugar into your system. I’m honestly surprised your mom never went insane from all the stress you threw at her, which just goes to show that you’re getting all that you deserve with Aiden.”

Clicking her tongue, Cara gave Astraea a perplexed look. “Huh. You know it’s funny, my mom told me the exact same thing. Anyway, back to that favor.”

“One track mind,” said Astraea, looking down at her papers.

" _Anyway_ before I was rudely interrupted,” Cara jokingly huffed, “Aiden has play practice later at 3:30 and I was wondering if you could pick him up from school and take him.”

“Why? What’s going on with you?”

“I have a doctors’ appointment at 3:30 and I’m not sure how long that’s going to take, but I assume it’s most likely going to take over an hour. Add that to the hour that it would take to get from the city all the way to the theatre in Concord, plus the traffic that I’m no doubt going to be stuck in, and there’s no way I’d be able to make it in time to pick up Aiden.”

Astraea stopped her work immediately and looked up at her friend in worry. “Why are you going to the doctor? Are you ok? You didn’t tell me you weren’t feeling well.”

Standing up from her chair, Astraea walked around the desk to stand in front of Cara. Leaning back against the desk and crossing her arms, Astraea gave Cara her undivided attention. Cara was her best friend in the entire world, had been her best friend since she was eight and Cara had literally saved her life. At 11 years old, Cara had saved her from a broken home and abusive foster parents. Astraea’s life had been filled with dark struggles since the day she was born, and it only started to get brighter the day she met Cara. If something was going on with her, even the littlest thing, Astraea was going to be the first in line to help her and make sure that everything was ok.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, Raea. No need to get your panties in a twist,” laughed Cara. “It’s a standard checkup. I just haven’t been feeling one hundred percent the past couple of weeks. I’ve lost my appetite, my stomach's been upset, and I’ve been extremely exhausted.”

“More than usual?” Astraea asked in concern.

“Yeah, considering I work full time along with being a full time wife and mother, the mother of a hyper six-year-old might I add, I am definitely more exhausted than usual,” Cara said in amusement. Closing her eyes and laying her head back against the comfy brown chair, Cara sighed, “Exhausted and stressed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were stressed?” Astraea moved to sit in the empty chair next to Cara. “I would have lessened your workload, or given you days off had you not been feeling well.”

“Thus are the perks of your best friend being your boss.” Cara smiled and locked eyes with her sister in every way except by blood. “Thank you for worrying about me, but it’s fine Raea. Despite the perks being great, I don’t want to take advantage of them or you.”

Leaning on the arm of the chair, Astraea propped her head up with her hand, her blonde, slightly curled hair falling around her shoulders. “It wouldn’t be taking advantage of me. It would be me worrying about the health of my right wing woman. I wouldn’t want you collapsing on me in the middle of a rehearsal.”

Cara threw her head back and laughed. “Wouldn’t that be something? I’m also sure that Noah would have an apoplectic fit when he found out too. For a bad ass attorney, he’s as worrisome as a mother hen.”

“Tell me about it.” Astraea said smiling. “It’s amazing how calm and collected your husband is in the court room, but when it comes to you and Aiden, he’s like a volcano ready to erupt in nerves.”

They both laughed at the thought of Noah Coleman’s crazy antics and fell into a comfortable silence. The kind of silence only afforded from years of friendship.

"Yes, by the way,” said Astraea. “I’ll pick up Aiden and take him to practice, and you should know better than to think that I’d pass up a chance to spend some time with my godson.” Smiling, Astraea gave Cara a soft look. “You know any time you need my help you don’t even have to give me an explanation. I’m there for you in a heartbeat no matter what.”

Cara looked into Astraea’s cerulean eyes and smiled softly. She reached across the gap between the chairs and grabbed her friend's hand. “I know,” she sighed, “and you know that the same applies to you. I’m with you in a heartbeat.”

The silent note of camaraderie between the two was comforting and familiar. They’d been together since they were children. Had traveled both heartbreaking and joyous roads together. Had laughed, and cried, and hoped, and dreamed with one another and they knew their friendship wouldn’t be ending anytime soon, if ever.

Astraea released Cara's hand, stood, and rounded her desk. She picked up the receiver of her office phone and pressed a button to connect her to her assistant. “Hey, Donna, I don’t have any meetings after one do I?”  The phone wire twirled between her fingers as she listened to her assistant.

Leaving Astraea to her schedule maintenance, Cara stood from her seat and walked towards the floor to ceiling windows that made up the entire north wall of the office. From the top floor of Spectrum Theater, the eight-story building was located right next to the Charles River, just a stone’s throw away from the city of Boston. They were close enough to the city to see the sun’s rays bounce off the windows of the buildings, reflecting the light and giving the city a bright and hopeful look; but they were far enough away that they weren’t caught in the hustle and bustle of city life.

There was a certain tranquility about being above the life that was constantly moving below, watching not only the river flow, but also the people and cars that seemed to flow along with it. It forced a sense of peace to overcome one’s senses, and that’s exactly the kind of peace that Cara needed in that moment. She wasn’t overly worried about her doctor's appointment, she was sure she just had a small bug or something, but she couldn't help the small hint of worry that had crept into her chest, thinking it just might be something more. Shaking her head, she left her worries at the window and turned back to Astraea just as she was finishing her call.

“Ok, good. Make sure that nothing is scheduled after that last meeting. I’m going to be busy the rest of the day.” Astraea smiled into the receiver, ever thankful for her faithful assistant. “Thank you so much, Donna. I honestly have no idea how I’d get through my days without you. Ok, bye.”

Placing the receiver back down, Astraea turned to Cara. “I’m going to forever be impressed with how well Donna manages to evade people that I know are going to waste my time with their awful pitches.” Rolling her eyes, Astraea looked down at the documents laid out on her desk. “Honestly, I’m the director of a symphony that creates scores of music for Hollywood movies and such. Hell, I’ve even won several Academy Awards for best original musical score. You’d think these people would understand that I don’t have the time nor the interest to write them a jingle for their commercial.”

Nodding, Cara agreed. “You got lucky on that one. Donna truly is a miracle worker.”

Picking up her cellphone, Astraea opened up the app for her events planner. “You said Aiden needed to be picked up from school at three and then taken to his rehearsal at 3:30 right?”

"Right.” Said Cara. “And you can either stay and watch the practice or you can drop him off and pick him up when it’s over. It ends at 5:30 so it’s only two hours.”

“I don’t exactly know where I’d go to pass the time over in Concord.” Said Astraea while typing her plans into her scheduler. “If I did just drop Aiden off, I guess I could find a coffee shop and do some paper work there while I wait. I could even just go home if I wanted to. I mean it’s not even 15 minutes away from Concord.”

Crossing her arms, Cara wandered over to the desk. “They have some waiting rooms at the theatre that I’m sure you could use to work in if you don’t want to go too far. I’m sure the employees wouldn’t mind.”

Locking her phone and slipping it in the back pocket of her black skinny jeans, Astraea nodded. “I’ll think about what I’ll do and decide when I actually get there.”

Reaching down, Astraea sorted the sheet music she was working on, picked it up, and looked at Cara as she rounded the desk. “Ready to go to down?”

“Sure am, boss.” Said Cara, walking towards the doors with Astraea.

Rolling her eyes good naturedly, Astraea opened the doors of her office and entered the hall with Cara. They gave Donna a short greeting as they walked past the assistant and headed towards the elevators at the end of the hall.

Every time Astraea walked down this hallway, she couldn't help the sense of nostalgia that hit her; thinking about where she started, and how she came to be in that moment.

The Spectrum Recording studio was gifted as a base to Astraea from her adopted father, Clark Kingston, when she was 14 years old. It was a high school graduation gift and an opportunity for Astraea to have a space to record any and all music that flowed from her mind. Astraea had been working in this building for ten years now. With over 90 people that made up her symphonic orchestra, she has composed music for films both animated and live, and has written musical scores and soundtracks for popular video games and TV shows, not only in the American movie industry, but across the globe as well. She’s worked on musical scores for movies in England all the way across Asia to Japan. Having formed her own production company back in 2006 at the age of 19, it’s safe to say that Spectrum Records has a highly broad category of clients.

Her work in the industry doesn’t just stop at compositions though, Astraea’s talents stretch to producing music for some of the world’s top musical artists. The type of genre isn’t a problem either; Astraea has worked with pop, rock, r&b/hip hop, rap, alternative, and country artists. Her work with artists goes from Beyoncé to Maroon 5 and from Tim McGraw to T-Pain; she will work on any and all genres. Don’t ask her what her favorite genre of music is though, because she won’t be able to give an answer. She loves it all.

To Astraea, you can’t say a certain genre is better than another, or that a certain genre is the worst kind of music, cause that’s a lie. There are different types of genres cause the world is filled with different types of people. Every single genre is important because every single genre affects every person differently. For example, while one person may not like country music cause they “don’t like the sound”, that may be the complete opposite opinion to another. It’s all in the delivery of the song. The way the music moves a person’s soul, or the way the lyrics may resound in that person’s heart, it’s all important. While this has been Astraea’s philosophy about music since she was very young, her adoptive parents only strengthened her resolve.

For over two centuries, the Kingston family has been a big name in the music business being an instrument manufacturer. They make the most gorgeous instruments from violins to trumpets, and from flutes to pianos, every single instrument is made from the most quality material, and time and dedication is put into each piece. With Clark Kingston being the head of a mogul musical instrument manufacturer, and his wife, Adelina Moretti, being a world-class violinist, they were the perfect match for the little musical orphan. No one would have been able to support Astraea’s career the way they did.

Astraea was discovered as a musical prodigy at the age of two, and had officially composed her first piece of music at the age of 5. From then on, her musical career took off. Being an orphan and a minor, the government took over her career for her. There were people that took care of her and traveled with her, but the orphanage was still in charge of finding a home for her. She had been taken in as a foster kid by a couple of families, but none of them wanted to deal with the stress of her career.

She’d been sent back to the orphanage more times than she could count. It always dealt an emotional blow for her; being sent back because nobody thought she was worth the effort, and each time she was sent back, it would chip a part of her away. Astraea would say that those moments were the basis of her emotional scars. Of course there were also the ones that tried to keep her, if only to try to gain access to the millions she was making. Once they figured out that they had no right to her money, they sent her right back to the orphanage.

She was known to the classical music world as Astraea Rayne; her first and self-given middle name. That’s the name that was on the cover of all her albums, and that’s the name that was displayed on the signs of all the theatre’s she would perform at.

She’s played for many important people; politicians, world leaders, royalty, etc. When she was 8 years old, she’d even been invited to play for the Queen of England. Even to this day, on occasion she’ll get an invite from Buckingham Palace to come and visit with the Queen and play for her.

None of this is advertised though. Astraea has only ever been famous in the classical music world. She’s not on billboards, or TV, or on the cover of magazines; not anymore anyway. You’d only really know her name if you were a diehard fan of classical music. Astraea Rayne was who she was known as until her 16th birthday, when she lost her two biggest fans.

Clark and Adelina had been Astraea’s biggest supporters and most devoted fans. Astraea only had them for eight years before she lost them, and the pain from losing them became almost too much for her to handle, so she stopped her touring career and stopped making albums.

Riding the elevator down to the first floor, Astraea was lost in thoughts of her parents. Thinking of them always pulled two major emotions from her: joy and pain.

She hurt when she thought of all the time she’ll never get to spend with them, all the moments missed, the memories lost. It hurt to think that she’ll never see them again, but then she can’t help but be thankful that she got to know them at all. The joy of thinking of all the memories that they _did_ make, all the moments they _did_ share was enough to curb the pain of losing them.

While Astraea hurt from losing them, she feelt blessed that she even got to know them. Out of the billions of people that lived on the planet, she had the honor of being Clark and Adelina Kingston’s daughter, even if it was for a short eight years. She was blessed that they decided to adopt her out of all the other kids; blessed that they gave her a home, blessed that they gave her a place in their family.

Reaching the ground floor, Astraea and Cara walked through the lobby, the high glass windows letting the sun shine through and bathe the room in its glow. The linoleum floor was polished to a shine and the click of their heels on the floor resounded throughout the room. Astraea and Cara greeted the workers they passed, giving Linda the lobby secretary a wave. Astraea even went so far as to high five Doris the cleaning lady as she passed her, with Doris laughing in amusement. Doris was a sweetheart. She’s headed into her late sixties, but she never failed to be an energetic and dedicated worker.

Spectrum Records was made up of a team of people that worked for Astraea personally. From legal to maintenance, and to music engineers and musicians, Astraea believed that she has the best team of employees. They’re diligent, hardworking, and best of all, they love what they do.

The two friends reached the hallway that lead to the main studio and Astraea couldn’t help but admire the grand room as she passed it.

Walking down the hallway, the left wall turned into windows. The windows arched into a big semicircle around the studio, allowing people to look inside and observe the musicians and instruments as they walked by.

It was filled to the brim already. The strings section was tuning their violins and cellos; the brass section was prepping their trumpets, French horns, trombones and tubas; the woodwinds section was playing their flutes and clarinets, practicing the piece; and the percussion section seemed to be ready to start at any moment. Astraea could see Jordan, the drummer, just itching to start hitting the symbols.

And there in the corner, polished to a shine was Astraea’s bright blue Kingston crafted piano. It was a gift from her parents on her tenth birthday, not only to celebrate her day of birth, but also to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Astraea’s official adoption into the Kingston family a month previous.

The piano was designed and handcrafted by Clark himself, and when questioned on the choice of color by the ever-inquisitive Astraea, Clark just replied that the color reminded him of the blue skies and an angel’s eyes. Astraea thanked her adoptive father and smiled at him, her sky blue eyes twinkling in amusement and an ever-growing love.

“Oh look, Simon’s already here.” Observed Cara.

Looking through the windows towards the other side of the room through another set of windows that made up the control room, Astraea could see the tall form of Simon Burke, the principle conductor.

Simon was a tall, thin man in his mid 60s with thick salt and pepper hair, and kind hazel eyes framed by thin glasses. He was an old friend of Astraea’s mother, Adelina, having conducted many orchestras in which Adelina’s mother took part. Not only was he a friend, but he was a mentor to Adelina, and later became a mentor to Astraea too.

Simon had been a conductor for almost 30 years, traveling the world and conducting orchestras for opera’s and other musical ensembles, and though he loved what he did, three years ago he decided to call it quits. He once joked to Astraea that waving your arms around for hours could be tiring work.

While he’s retired from being a conductor in the big leagues in the music industry, he didn’t want to quit completely, and hearing of his conflictions, Astraea reached out to him and offered him a part time job as a conductor for the Spectrum Orchestra.

Astraea didn't mind the job of conductor, but she prefered either being behind the scenes in the control room to better influence the music, or apart of the orchestra itself, playing the music that she wrote. It had been a huge blessing to Astraea having Simon here and being able to work with him, and Simon was just as grateful to Astraea, for he was still able to do what he loves without the added stress of traveling or the stress of a big performance. It was a win-win for everyone.

Reaching the control room, Astraea and Cara walked in, picking up on a conversation Simon was having with a couple of the musicians.

“Simon, my man, how’ve you been?” Exclaimed Cara with a smile.

Looking towards the two women with a smile, Simon excused himself from the musicians, and proceeded to walk towards the two friends. “Cara, Astraea, my two favorite girls.” Simon said, his pristine British accent enveloping his words. Reaching down to give each of them a hug, his six foot and five-inch height making him tower over the two petite girls, he pulled back and gave them a smile. “I’m very well, by the way; thank you for asking, Cara. How are you two doing? Keeping out of trouble I hope,” he chuckled.

“Not very likely with this one around.” Said Astraea, jabbing her thumb towards Cara. “Trouble seems to attract her like a magnet, which I tend to get pulled into as well.

“Hey, I take slight offense to that,” Cara said defensively, but couldn’t stop a giggle from slipping through. “I can’t take full offense cause it’s true.”

Simon chuckled at the antics of the two friends, forever amused by the dynamic of their friendship. “Well, I believe everyone’s ready to get started. We were just waiting on our Maestro.” Holding the door open for Astraea, Simon turned to wait for her.

“Let’s get this party started,” cheered Cara, plopping down into her chair at the soundboard. Around Cara was her small team of audio engineers, there to help her control and edit the sound as she saw fit.

“Don’t get too crazy, Care-bear,” Astraea said over her shoulder as she walked past Simon into the studio. As the door was closing behind her, she heard Cara call out, “No promises, Rae-Rae!”

Shaking her head in amusement, Astraea made her way over to her grand piano, greeting the musicians as she passed by. “Good morning, everyone.”

“Good morning, Maestro.” Came the chorus of voices of her orchestra.

“Thank you all for being here.” Sitting down on her stool, Astraea placed her sheet music in the appropriate order, hearing the click of Simon’s baton on his music stand, which signaled the musicians to get into position.

Placing her fingers on the appropriate keys, Astraea looked up at her team and smiled.

“Let’s begin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please please please leave a comment!! I really want to know what you thought about it and if you have any constructive criticism to give, that would be great. Don't be afraid to leave a comment either. Honestly, I'm more anxious to hear your thoughts than I'm sure you would be giving them :)


	2. New Relationships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astraea encounters a new person, and while she doesn't know it yet, this meeting will change the course of her life forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read and/or commented on the last chapter! I was legit blown away by the response I got *crying*. I hope you all like long chapters, because for some reason I don't know how to stop writing when I start, so I always end up with super mega long chapters (don't worry, I'm overexaggerating).
> 
> Also, that chapter summary I gave above was incredibly ominous lol. Anywho, here's chapter 2!!

_“Thanks again for doing this, Rae. I owe you.”_

Driving down the highway, Astraea rolled her eyes in exasperation at Cara’s disembodied voice that was coming from the speakers of her car. “You don’t owe me anything, Cara. How many times do I have to tell you that spending time with my adorable godson is the farthest thing from a burden that there is? And besides, do you really want me to start tallying up all the favors you owe me? Didn’t we already talk about this? I remember it had to do with the _Harry Potter_ series.”

_"Yeah yeah, all the favors I owe you would fill up more pages than the Harry Potter series, blah blah blah. I’m just saying that I’m grateful that I have you.”_

“I’m grateful that you have me too, as are your parents, and brothers, and Noah,” said Astraea with a small grin. “We all know you wouldn’t have survived this far without me.”

 _“I will not deny the truth in that statement,”_ said Cara, in a tone that was nothing less than serious.

Putting on her blinker, Astraea changed lanes to exit the freeway, her black 2012 Audi A6 making the change with smooth precision. “Anyway, I’ll be at the school in about 10 minutes.

 _"You’re already almost there? It’s barely 2:40! Aiden gets out at 3!”_ Cara’s voice was filled with disbelief of her friend. _“What is up with you and arriving everywhere almost 20 minutes early?”_

“Hey, like my dad always said, ‘being on time doesn’t mean being _on time_ ; it means arriving at your destination 10 or more minutes early’,” Astraea recited. “It’s also good manners, and a good habit to develop.”

 _“You are too perfect for this world.”_ Cara said in a joking tone that had a slight hint of seriousness. _“Anyway, I’m almost at the hospital so I better let you go, but I’ll contact you immediately as soon as I know the verdict of my condition._ ”

“You better, lest I blow your phone up in my worry,” replied Astraea.

_“Ah, you mother hen, you. Speaking of mother hens, when are you gonna pop out your own babies? Wait, you need a man for that. I’ve been meaning to tell you, there’s this guy at Noah’s firm that I’ve met who I know would be super interested in you. He’s hot, a lawyer, rich; I could covertly slip him your number and maybe-“_

“Ok, Cara! Have fun at the hospital, don’t touch anything sharp and I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Astraea nervously laughed quickly ending that conversation, not wanting to get into Cara’s matchmaking abilities, which normally didn’t end well.

 _“Hey, I’m just looking out for you,” Cara replied. “You’re 24, you gotta start looking sometime.”_ Cara’s tone changed to one of concern. _“I know we joke about it, but I do want you to find someone. You’re one of the best people I know and I want you to know every happiness that the world has to offer; that includes someone for you to love who loves you in return along with having your own little munchkins.”_

“I know,” sighed Astraea, her mood turning somber. “Not all of us can be as lucky as you, though. I mean, you met Noah in middle school, he turned out to be your high school sweetheart, and you’ve been together ever since.” With her right hand guiding the steering wheel down the winding roads encased by forest, Astraea lent her head against her hand, her elbow propped against the door.

 _"No one saw that coming though. I mean, Noah was a little shit in middle school. He pushed me off the monkey bars during recess one time, and I scraped the inside of my knee pretty badly. I still have the scar from that incident, you know,”_ rambled Cara. _“Speaking of that scar, when Noah first saw it when we were in high school, he apologized profusely,”_ Cara’s voice then took on a wistful tone, sighing in slight pleasure over the speakers. _“And boy did he know how to say sorry. Did I ever tell you that that scar turned out to be right on a pleasure point for me? To this day he does this thing with his tongue and lips that-“_

“Ok ok ok, too much information there,” Astraea quickly interrupted, not wanting to get into that. “You and I are close enough to talk about these things, Cara, but I do want to be able to look Noah in the eyes when I speak to him. Were I not good friends with him as well, talking about this stuff wouldn’t be a problem.”

_“I get it; don’t want to turn Noah into a blushing school girl if he finds out we’ve been talking about his love making methods.”_

“Exactly,” agreed Astraea. “Anyway, thanks for looking out for me, but I’m just not ready to start exploring that part of my life yet. I don’t know if I ever will be ready.” The resigned sigh that left Astraea was enough to break Cara’s heart.

 _“Hey, you’ll get there. I know new relationships are scary, and the idea of letting someone past your barriers is even more terrifying, but you’ll get there, and I’ll be right there with you,”_ said Cara in reassurance.

Astraea gave a small smile. “Thanks Care-bear. Besides, I’m in no rush to have kids; that’s what Aiden’s for. I have no problem spoiling him rotten. He’s basically my child anyway.”

 _“You’re right, how could I forget. Aiden is mine and yours; Noah was just the sperm donor. You’re not just my friend, Astraea, you’re my lesbian lover. When are we gonna break the news to Noah?”_ Cara’s tone was so serious, had Astraea not known her for as long as she has, she would have no idea that Cara was just joking.

Slowing down at a stop sign, the elementary school in sight, Astraea burst out laughing. “You are the most ridiculous person I know, yet you are my favorite.”

 _“I know, I know,”_ said Cara. This was not news to her.

Astraea pulled into the parking lot, and quickly parked her car. Being early, there were a fair amount of spots open. “Anyway, I’m at the school so I’m gonna let you go. Let me know how your appointment goes as soon as you can.”

_“I will. Give Aiden kisses for me when you see him.”_

“Sure thing. I’ll tell him his other mom says hi.” Leaning on the steering wheel, Astraea smiled in amusement as Cara laughed over the speaker. “Hey, before you go, I was gonna ask you if you wanted me to pick up pizza after Aiden’s practice, that away you won’t have to worry about dinner.

 _“Yeah, that would be great,”_ said Cara. _“One less thing I’ll have to worry about. Anyway, I’ll talk to you later. Bye, Rae.”_

Astraea returned the goodbye, disconnected the call, and promptly removed the key from the ignition. As she stepped out of her car and made her small trek toward the front doors of the school, locking her car behind her, a cool summer breeze hit Astraea. It provided a nice contrast to what would normally be a hot summer day considering it was the beginning of August. Astraea normally dressed pretty warm for when she went to work, for the building was always set to a temperature that would be comfortable for the Abominable Snowman himself. It had to be that chilled though, cause if it wasn’t, the recording studio would be a sauna considering the amount of bodies that are clustered in there, along with the consistent movement that the musicians do as they play their instruments. They could work up a pretty good sweat when they wanted to.

Dressed in a flowing navy blouse with a scooped neckline and quarter length sleeves, black skinny jeans, and black heeled ankle boots, Astraea was thankful that the outfit she picked out for the day was outside appropriate as well given the slight chill in the air.

There were two sets of double doors at the front of the school, and also the only public entrance to it. The first set simply lead into a tiny rectangular foyer which required a keypad-access code to gain entrance to the second set of doors. Once inside, another set of codes is required to be able to check out the child through a computer system. When it came to choosing a school for Aiden to attend, one of the top things on Cara’s list of requirements that the school had to have was a proper security and protocol system. Silverline elementary school had that and more, so it was no wonder that Cara chose it. It was an expensive private school as well, but Cara bluntly said that a price couldn’t be put on her child’s safety. Astraea had to agree.

It’s not like they couldn’t afford it though, what with Noah being one of the top lawyers of a prestigious firm in Boston. Needless to say, he’s making bank. Though Cara’s salary isn’t anything to snooze at either. While Noah’s salary is up high in the 6 digits, Cara was not far behind him.

Reaching the doors, Astraea walked through the first set, typed in the key code, and walked through the second set of doors after hearing the accepting beep signaling that she could go through. Parents of students attending Silverline can program a chosen list of people into the system who have full permission to pick up their child. An access code is given to the parent, who in turn gives it to their chosen few. Astraea is on Cara’s list along with Noah, Cara’s parents and Cara’s two older brothers, Aaron and Brian.

Astraea walked over to the front desk to check Aiden out of the system for the day. Sitting on the high ledge of the desk was a public computer provided for the parents to check out their kids. Astraea typed in Aiden’s student password, gave a short greeting to the secretary, and promptly made her way down the school hallway.

There were windows along each wall that allowed you to look into each classroom and observe what was going on inside. As Astraea walked down the hall towards Aiden’s classroom, she couldn’t help but peek into the rooms she was passing by, giving a small smile at the kids she saw. It was the end of the school day, so obviously lessons had finished. Some kids were coloring, some were eating snacks, and some were goofing off. A couple of kids even saw her walking by and gave her an enthusiastic wave. She giggled, waved back, and continued on.

It seemed that Aiden’s class was just about to go outside for an extra recess when Astraea arrived at his classroom. All the kids were lined up just inside the door, and when the first kid in line saw her approach, he turned back and shouted, “Aiden! Your aunt is here!”

While she’s not an aunt by blood, the kids in Aiden’s class weren’t aware of that. All the students become familiar with what adult picks up which child, so from the first day that Astraea came to pick up Aiden, his unwavering shout of ‘Aunt Rae’ led the rest of the kids to this assumption.

Astraea had zero problem with it though. She carried the title with pride.

After the little boy in the front of the line made his declaration of her arrival, all the kids collectively started to let Aiden know she was there. She smiled at their enthusiasm, but no amount of childlike enthusiasm could make her smile any wider than the moment she caught Aiden’s eye.

His eyes grew wide for a split second in surprise before the biggest grin exploded across his face. Aiden broke out of line and ran towards her as fast as his 6-year-old legs would let him.

“Aunt Rae!” He shouted, throwing his arms around Astraea’s neck as she knelt down to catch him, making sure she didn’t lose her balance and go tumbling back in the process.

“Nephew Aiden!” Joked Astraea, laughing as she rocked him back and forth. She couldn’t even begin to explain how much this little boy meant to her.

“I didn’t know you were gonna get me today,” said Aiden, giving her a toothy grin.

“Neither did I sweet boy, not until your momma asked me too.” Smoothing his dark brown hair to the side, Astraea couldn’t help but think about how much he looked like his dad.

Everything about him screamed ‘Noah’, from the unruly brown hair, to his small narrow nose, to the tiny dimples in his cheeks, he was all Noah. Except for his eyes; he has his mother’s beautiful emerald eyes, and Astraea loved him all the more for it. Every time she looked at Aiden, she couldn't help but see her two best friends. He was the best parts of both of them, and she would forever love him.

As she smothered his face and neck with kisses, Aiden started to giggle uncontrollably.

“Stop, Aunt Rae, stop!” Playfully pushing at her to let go, Aiden escaped from her grip and ran back inside his classroom to grab his Pixar Cars backpack.

Astraea smiled at Aiden’s teacher as she straightened up. “How’d he do today?” She asked as she accepted Aiden’s homework folder from her.

“He did really well. We took a math test today and from the glimpse I saw of it, he passed with flying colors.” Replied the teacher. “I haven’t finished grading the rest of the papers, so I’ll send it back with him tomorrow. It was a great day for him overall.”

“I earned two study stars!” Aiden exclaimed as he appeared around the door, holding up two fingers. His backpack was strapped to his back, and he seemed to be beaming with excitement. Astraea didn’t know if it was because of the stars he earned, or because he was about to leave. Maybe both.

“Great job, Aiden! Your mom’s gonna be so proud of you! High five!” Aiden jumped and slapped his hand to hers.

“Bye, Miss Brianna,” said Aiden, placing his tiny hand in Astraea’s, ready to leave.

“Bye, Aiden. Have a wonderful rest of the day,” returned his teacher. “Make sure you’re ready for our spelling test tomorrow. I’ll see you then, ok?”

Aiden was already off, pulling Astraea down the hall by her hand. In his excitement to leave he didn’t hear his teacher’s goodbye. Astraea sent an apologetic smile and wave to Aiden’s teacher before she allowed Aiden complete control on their journey to the car.

Their walk to the car was filled with Aiden telling Astraea how his day went. She smiled and laughed at how he told her that during recess, him and some of his friends kept crashing into each other at the end of the slide. Watching him climb into the backseat of her car into his red and black Mickey Mouse car seat, she gave him a smile.

“I’m glad you had such a wonderful day, sweetheart.”

Aiden returned the smile, snapping his buckles into place. He was adamant that he learn how to buckle himself in like a ‘big boy’. “I did Aunt Rae,” he told her, his high pitched voice making her heart melt. “It’s even better though now that you’re here.”

Oh that was just it. Could he be anymore adorable? “Aiden, you are just the sweetest thing in this entire world.” She bent down into the car, carefully grabbed his chin, and turned his face to give him a big kiss on his cheek. He had started giggling when she backed out and closed his door, and his giggling hadn’t subsided by the time she had rounded the car, slid into the driver’s seat, and started the car.

Astraea smiled at him through the rearview mirror and pulled out of the parking lot. Turning onto the road she started to drive towards the highway.

“Aunt Rae, did mommy tell you that I have play practice today? I can’t miss it cause I have a very important part. Are you gonna take me?”

“Yes, sweetheart, that’s exactly where we’re headed now.” Slipping on her sunglasses and flipping down her visor to block the blinding sun, Astraea reached her hand back towards Aiden to pass him his own pair of sunglasses. They had matching Ray Bans, though his were smaller to fit his face.

Sliding his sunglasses onto his face, his mouth exploded into a grin. “Did mommy tell you about the part I got? I’m playing Michael in Peter Pan!” His voice had gone an octave higher, turning into a shout of excitement.

“Yeah she did, love,” laughed Astraea, his excitement making her excited. “I’m so happy for you! I can’t wait to see you in this play; I just know you’ll be great.”

“I’m excited too,” agreed Aiden, turning his head to look out the window with his arms crossed over his chest, looking like a tiny model in the process. Astraea swore he looked just like his dad. There was no doubt that Aiden was gonna be a heartbreaker by the time he was in high school. Maybe even middle school.

Aiden’s dad Noah was a heartbreaker back when Noah, Cara and Astraea were in high school. The only problem was, he was arrogant about it. He knew he looked good, and he knew he was smart, and he took advantage of it. He was the kind of guy that you wanted to be friends with because he was popular and handsome, but he would end up using you in the long run. Cara and Astraea were the only girls who weren’t fooled by his act and charm and that annoyed him to no end, so he placed a target on both of their backs. He was especially cruel to Astraea since she was 3 years younger than everyone else in their class and was thus dubbed abnormal and weird just because she was exceptionally smart and gifted. That was the last straw for Cara though. He went too far one day with his nasty comments about Astraea and Cara unleashed all the wrath a 15-year-old sophomore could unleash. Needless to say she ended up giving Noah a reality check, and in a surprising twist of events, Noah ended up falling in love with her, charmed her for real, and they’ve been together ever since.

They all know that Aiden’s going to be handsome when he gets older, Cara just vowed to herself that she would instill grace in Aiden so he wouldn’t turn out to be a bully. When Cara told this to Astraea, she gave Noah a pointed look all the while. Noah just ducked his head and walked out of his and Cara’s kitchen in knowing silence.

Aiden was turning out wonderfully so far. He was the sweetest boy in the world. He was well-mannered, kind, and he loved to share. That’s saying a lot considering how kids his age hate to share.

“Aunt Rae, thank you for taking me to my play practice.”

Glancing back into her rearview mirror, Astraea could see Aiden smiling at her. What did she say? Sweetest boy in the world.

* * *

The Concord Youth Theatre was a hop and a skip away from Aiden’s school. They managed to avoid all traffic so they made it 10 minutes before Aiden’s practice was scheduled to start (much to Astraea’s relief given how punctual she was).

They were walking towards the entrance, Aiden’s hand in hers and her black messenger bag (holding her laptop, music, and paperwork) slung across her chest. Aiden was skipping along beside her excited to start his practice.

They entered the building and walked up to the front desk where a girl, who looked to be in her mid-twenties, was sitting. Her honey blonde hair was in a low ponytail and her bangs were being held back by a butterfly barrette. Her attention was on the computer screen in front of her, but once she saw Astraea and Aiden, she gave them her full attention.

“Hi, is there something I can help you with?” She asked with a kind smile.

Returning the smile, Astraea leaned on the high counter, that was raised above the desk. “Yes, I’m here with my nephew, he’s in the Peter Pan play. This is my first time bringing him, so I’m at a loss for what I’m supposed to do.”

“Oh, that’s fine,” replied the girl. She slid a sign in sheet towards Astraea, and place a pen on top. “Just sign him and yourself in and put the time, and before you leave come back and sign him out. There’s also name tags, so if you don’t mind writing your name and placing it on your shirt. That away we can identify that you’re a parent or guest.”

“Yeah, that’s absolutely no problem.” Letting go of Aiden’s hand, and making sure he wouldn’t wander off, Astraea quickly signed them in and made herself a name tag, placing it on the left side of her shirt. “Thank you so much,” said Astraea.

“You’re very welcome,” the girl returned with a smile.

Once he noticed that she was finished writing, Aiden grabbed Astraea’s hand and began to drag her towards what she assumed was the auditorium.

“Come on, Aunt Rae, I’m gonna be late for practice!”

“You are not, Aiden. We’re eight minutes early.” Aiden ignored her, and continued to drag her down a hallway to the left, then made a right towards a pair of double doors. Running ahead of her, Aiden pushed one of the doors open, and continued to hold the door open until Astraea walked through.

Astraea gave a playful gasp and held her hand to her chest. “What a proper gentleman.”

Aiden just gave her a wide grin and the bolted down the aisle towards a group of kids and some adults.

Astraea followed at a slower pace, passing the rows of chairs, looking for a place to sit. It was a pretty decent sized auditorium. There wasn’t much on the stage yet by way of background design, but it seemed like it was coming along. Opening night for the play wasn’t for a couple of months, so they had time to get the set ready.

Astraea found an aisle seat near the center of the middle section. She was just out of the way enough that she wouldn’t draw attention to herself, but she could still hear and observe what was going on comfortably. All the kids were on the stage waiting for instruction, some sitting and some goofing off like kids will do. Astraea noticed that Aiden had made himself comfortable sitting in the lap of a middle school girl surrounded by a group of other girls. He was chatting away, and from what Astraea could see, the girls were eating his words up, commenting on how cute they thought he was.

Aiden caught her eye and gave her a grin.

This kid was unbelievable.

To Astraea’s right, standing in front of the stage near the end, were a group of four adults consisting of one man and three women. They seemed to be in a serious discussion, the guy rubbing his temples, and one of the women quickly typing away at her phone, her brown hair framing the worried look on her face. Astraea wondered if there was a problem with how anxious they all seemed to be.

The other two women were looking intently at the stage, still in discussion with one another. One of them was blonde with a pixie haircut and looked to be in her mid-forties, and the other had light golden brown hair and gentle features. She had a kind face and even kinder eyes. Astraea couldn’t guess her age, but if she had to she would say early to mid-fifties. She wasn’t one hundred percent sure though, because the beauty that she undoubtedly was in her youth seemed to have stuck in her later years, making it difficult to set an age to her face.

The woman who was on her phone walked up and quickly whispered something to the other two. They both nodded and the one with the pixie cut started to make her way over to the group of kids, clapping her hands to get their attention.

“Kids, kids, gather round please, gather round. I have some sad news.” Those words immediately stopped the kids who were goofing off. All of the kids quickly hurried to the front of the stage and sat down in silence.

“You all know Mrs. Weatherly our pianist who has faithfully played all the music for us during our plays and practices,” continued the blonde. “Well, I’m sad to say that Mrs. Weatherly has been in a car accident.”

Many of the kids gasped and started sharing their concern with one another. The woman raised her voice and asked the kids to once again quiet down.

“Miss Reed, is she going to be alright?” Asked one of the girls who was sitting close to Aiden.

“Thankfully she’s going to be fine, but unfortunately she wasn’t completely unharmed in the accident. While we’re thankful that she’ll be alright and will make a full recovery, this means that we won’t have a pianist to perform the songs for our play.”

All the kids started making sounds of protest and disappointment, which Miss Reed (the previous unnamed blonde), calmed down once again.

“I know you’re all disappointed, none more so than myself and the other producers, but until we can find a replacement pianist, practice for all plays will temporarily be put on hold.”

The disappointment on the kids faces and in their weak sounds of protest were heartbreaking, none more so than the look of devastation on Aiden’s face. Not fully understanding what was going on, he asked the girl who’s lap he was sitting in what was going on, and from the look on his face, she had explained it well. He looked to be near tears, which was understandable given how excited he had been about this play. Astraea’s heart broke for him.

Aiden loved to act. This had been discovered when he would reenact parts of movies or cartoons for his parents. He was excellent at it too considering his age. Cara, not wanting to let this new found talent of Aiden’s go to waste, had immediately began searching for a place to help grow Aiden’s talents and help him make new friends that shared his passion. Through a mutual coworker of theirs, Cara had discovered the Concord Youth Theatre, and needless to say, she and Aiden loved it. It was a fun, friendly, and professional place that helped to nurture and encourage the growing talents and passions that these kids had for acting.

The role that Aiden had landed had been his first big role since he had joined almost 5 months ago, and he had been so excited about it.

Seeing that look of devastation on Aiden’s tiny face had resolved Astraea to help save this play for Aiden by any means necessary. And help save it she would.

Standing from her seat, Astraea walked over to the group of adults, her bag that was strapped across her chest was swinging against her hip with every step. The man and the brunette had elected to leave the room, probably to start looking for that replacement Miss Reed had mentioned. What they didn’t know was that help would be arriving sooner than they thought. Much sooner.

The woman with the kind face and golden brown hair had been watching the kids in slight sadness, the fingertips of her right hand pressed to her lips, no doubt heartbroken for them as well. Her attention was diverted though, when she noticed Astraea walking up to her.

As she reached the woman, Astraea gave her a smile and held out her hand. “Hi, my name’s Astraea Kingston.”

The woman gave her the kindest smile she had ever seen. It was gentle and somewhat loving, and Astraea thought, _if this woman has kids, they’ve got to be the luckiest people in the world to have a mother like her._ Her eyes were a beautiful blue that twinkled with a sense of knowing, and Astraea couldn’t help but feel that she could tell this woman anything and the only emotions she would receive would be pure love and complete understanding.

The woman took Astraea’s hand in her own and gave it a gentle shake. “It’s nice to meet you Astraea. I’m Lisa Evans. I’m the artistic director of this theatre.” Letting go of Astraea’s hand she continued. “That’s a unique name you have. Beautiful, yet unique. It sounds familiar too.”

Astraea lightly laughed. “Yeah, it’s actually a Greek name. How I got it is a long story though. Listen, Mrs. Evans, I couldn’t help but hear about the dilemma you’re in involving your pianist.”

“Yes, it’s a terrible thing to have happened to Deborah. She’s been our pianist for almost 6 years. Never missed a performance.” She gave a sad sigh, and her eyes dimmed as she looked at the kids. “I only wish we didn’t have to stop the play. The kids have been looking forward to this since we announced it a couple of weeks ago.”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about,” said Astraea, a small smile growing across her face. “I’m actually a professional pianist and composer myself, and I wanted to offer my services.”

The look on Mrs. Evans face was almost comical as she tried to process what Astraea had said.

“You…..you want to what? I don’t understand…..you said you’re a professional pianist?”

“Yes mam,” laughed Astraea, her eyes crinkling in amusement. “I write and play music for a living.”

“I-wow, um. You’re serious? About helping I mean.”

Astraea nodded her head, the smile still on her face. “Yes, I am one hundred percent serious about helping. That is if you’ll have me.”

"Of course! Of course, we’d love to have you!” Exclaimed Mrs. Evans. She seemed to not know what to do with herself at the moment, not expecting anything like this to happen. “I thought we were going to have to stop production of the play for weeks, maybe a month at the most. This is absolutely wonderful news!” The relieved smile that broke out across her face was beautiful. “Now, we’ll have to send the kids home today, but I’m sure they’ll be glad to know that we won’t have to stop the play completely. Will you need a couple of days to practice the songs? We meet on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and the occasional Saturday. Today’s Thursday, so will next Tuesday be enough time for you to have learned the music?”

“Actually if you have the sheet music here with you now, if you just give me a couple of minutes to look them over, we can continue with practice today.” Astraea casually said.

Mrs. Evans eyebrows rose underneath her bangs. “You only need a couple of minutes?” She asked in confusion. “There’s got to be at least over 50 sheets of music. I’m sorry, I’m just extremely confused. How will you only need a couple of minutes?”

“Ok, for 50 sheets, maybe 5 to 10 minutes,” Astraea said with a quirk of her lips, a joking tone to her voice. “And it’s ok to be confused, people normally are. I have a photographic memory, so I can just read over the music and it will be stuck in my noggin,” explained Astraea, wrapping her knuckles against her head a couple of times. “It works especially well when it comes to music. I’m guessing it’s because music is my passion, so little effort is required when it comes to understanding it.”

“Oh wow, that’s incredible,” said Mrs. Evans, an impressed look on her face. “Well, if you’ll just follow me, we’ll make the announcement to the kids and get you all set up.”

Astraea followed Mrs. Evans over to where Miss Reed was still consoling some of the kids. She turned when Lisa tapped her on the shoulder and started to talk to her in a quiet tone. Miss Reed’s face immediately broke out into a smile, no doubt at the news that they had found a replacement pianist.

“Oh this is wonderful,” said Miss Reed. She came up and gave Astraea an unexpected hug that she didn’t even have time to return before Miss Reed was pulling away. “Thank you so much, Miss Kingston.”

“Please, just call me Astraea,” she said with a smile for the tiny woman. Astraea was wearing heels, but even if she wasn’t, her 5’5” frame would still be a couple of inches taller than the enthusiastic woman.

With a touch to her shoulder, Mrs. Evans got Astraea’s attention. “Dear, I forgot to ask you, are you a parent to one of the kids?”

“Oh, I’m actually a godmother to one. See the tiny boy charming all the girls around him?” Astraea pointed at Aiden who was doing just that. He seemed to be feeling a bit better after the sad news, the girls having managed to make him smile again in spite of it. “That one’s mine.”

“Oh, you’re Aiden’s aunt? He is just beyond adorable!” Cooed Miss Reed, clasping her hands in front of her chest.

“A wonderful little actor too,” added Mrs. Evans. “He’s so talented for his age.”

Astraea just smiled, and agreed.

“Well, let me go give these kids the good news before they start to leave. Can’t have them thinking they have a day off,” joked Miss Reed.

“Children, can I have your attention please?” Miss Reed stopped in front of the stage and patiently waited for the kids to calm down. “Quiet down please, thank you. Now, I know I just gave you some disheartening news, but let me make up for it by giving you some wonderful news.”

The kids perked up at this, some with hope their eyes at what she was about to say next.

“This is Miss Kingston, Aiden’s aunt,” said Miss Reed, gesturing back towards Astraea who was standing next to Mrs. Evans. “She has so graciously offered to step up and be our new pianist for the play. So I’m proud to say that the show is back on!”

The shouts of joy from the kids brought wide smiles and a bought of laughter from both Mrs. Evans and Astraea. The excitement from the kids was contagious and they were all overjoyed to start practice once again.

Aiden had jumped up from the group of girls and moved to the edge of the stage, his hands thrown up into the air, “Aunt Rae, you did it! You saved the play!” Aiden shouted.

Astraea rushed over. “Aiden be careful. Don’t get too close to the edge, you could fall.” Holding onto his waist to keep him from falling, she wasn’t expecting him to throw his arms around her neck, his feet still on the stage.

“Thank you, Aunt Rae,” he breathed into her ear, making Astraea smile.

“You’re welcome, sweet boy.” Planting a kiss on his cheek, she shooed him back over to his friends. She turned to walk back over to Mrs. Evans and saw that the older woman had been watching her with a smile.

“You’re wonderful with him. Do you have any kids of your own?” Asked Mrs. Evans.

“Oh, no,” said Astraea with a breathless laugh. “I don’t have any kids. It’s just Aiden. I’m content to just spoil him for now.”

“Well I hope you do decide to have kids someday,” said Mrs. Evans with a knowing smile. “I have a feeling that you’d be a wonderful mother.”

Astraea just gave her a shy smile in return. “Thank you, Mrs. Evans.”

“Please, dear, call me Lisa. Now come,” she said, gesturing for Astraea to follow. “Let me show you to the piano, and I’ll scramble up that sheet music for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped everyone liked this one. As you can see, things are starting to progress in the story :D
> 
> Please please please leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts about it and if you have any constructive criticism. I'm crazy self conscious about my writing and I would love to know if you liked it or what you liked about it, etc.
> 
> Thanks again for reading!! Love ya'll!!


	3. Surprises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the week long wait! Seriously, if I could just forgo life and all of my responsibilities, I would spend all of my time writing. Unfortunately work must be done, school must be studied for, and bills must be payed. Such is life...
> 
> I know it may not seem like it, but I promise that Chris will show up eventually. I'm setting up Astraea's life in a certain way before she meets Chris. He'll show up in time, I promise!!
> 
> Anywho, enjoy the chapter!!

The rehearsal for _Peter Pan_ went off without a hitch. Astraea had learned the pieces in record time and the kids were overjoyed to be able to continue with practice. Aiden was wonderful as Michael, acting out his parts with no fear and more confidence in his little six-year-old body than she had seen in fully grown men. She loved watching him act and wished that she took more time to come and see him do what he so obviously loved. He had only performed in two plays so far since he'd joined the theatre, and she had gone to both showings, but she didn’t realize there was so much more that she was missing.

The whole process of putting the play together was an entirely different atmosphere. The laughter and joy that Aiden showed when rehearsing with his friends and learning from the directors was something different and beautiful than just watching the finished project of the play. Astraea was glad of this opportunity presented to her that allowed her to spend more time with Aiden, and to watch him grow in his talents. She certainly wasn’t going to take it for granted and she had Lisa Evans to thank for that.

Lisa was absolutely one of a kind in Astraea’s opinion. She had a presence that commanded the room, which came in handy for her position as the director, and Astraea could tell right off the bat that she wasn’t a woman that you wanted on your bad side. But there was a gentleness to her that made her unwaveringly approachable. Not only was her presence commanding, but it was comforting. She was lucky enough to be able to sit down and have a nice talk with Lisa when practice was over. Aiden spent his time during the discussion running around with his friends while the kids waited for their parents to pick them up.

At first they just talked about the rehearsal schedule and Lisa filled her in on what to expect for each practice and any events or parties that were for the cast and crew, which now included Astraea, Lisa had told her with a smile. Also, apparently there was a rotation amongst the students on who brought snacks and treats for each practice, which was done in teams so that the amount of snacks to bring wasn’t overwhelming to just one set of parents. Lisa informed Astraea that Aiden’s turn for snacks had just passed, so he wasn’t scheduled to bring anything for the next month. She then commented on all the lovely and creative treats that Cara had always brought for the kids. Astraea had announced her eagerness to help in this task for she loved to bake, and promised to bring some tasty treats for the kids next time.

After that the conversation flowed into a more casual chat. Lisa had been eager to get to know the, as of now, mysterious composer and learn more of her story. She had met people with extraordinary talents (in her biased motherly opinion all four of her children were among this category), but she had never met someone with this kind of talent.

Lisa thought it was absolutely fascinating, the idea of a photographic memory and being able to remember the slightest detail with no effort whatsoever. She jokingly thought to herself that this talent would be a handy thing for Chris to have for when he was home in Boston. Maybe it would stop him tearing through the house looking for his keys when they'd been sitting in the pocket of his pants the whole time. She mentally shook her head. That boy. She’s so proud him and all he’d accomplished, but he never failed to make her worried and amused in equal measure.

But Astraea was incredibly interesting. Not only that but she was also a beautiful girl. Her most prominent features being her ice blue eyes which fit in her heart shaped face, framed by light golden blonde hair that she was sure glinted in the sun.

Lisa had inquired about Astraea’s work and referred to when Astraea had mentioned that she was a composer. She was most impressed after she heard that Astraea was the head of her own international production company, and at 24 no less!

“Your parents must be exceedingly proud of you,” Lisa commented as she comfortably leaned in her seat in the front row of the auditorium. She was angled towards Astraea having wanted to give the girl her complete attention.

Astraea looked down at her lap with a broken smile, her fingers twisting together. “I like to think they are. I lost them when I was sixteen.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry.” Lisa grabbed Astraea’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, silently offering her some support, “Coming from a mother of four wonderful children, I know for a fact that they would be incredibly proud of you. From what you’ve told me, you have accomplished a considerable amount in your short lifetime that would take decades for most people to even dream of accomplishing.” Lisa gave her a warm smile and locked eyes with Astraea, “Believe me, they’re proud of you.”

As she looked into Lisa’s kind eyes, Astraea returned the smile, her own eyes shining with tears she was desperately trying to hold back. She was normally stronger than this. She didn’t know what it was, but there was just something about Lisa that made her want to spill her guts. There was just a maternal warmth that she couldn’t help but gravitate towards, wanting desperately to grab on and not let go, but she knew she didn’t have a right to. This woman wasn’t her mother; heck, she was practically a stranger! What right did she have?

Sucking in a deep breath and averting her gaze, Astraea straightened up in her chair, trying to keep herself together. “Thank you so much; it truly means a lot.” She looked back at her to make sure that she conveyed her gratitude and found Lisa giving her an understanding look, her lips crooked in a tiny smile.

“Anytime, dear. And I mean that. I look forward to working with you and talking with you again.”

“So do I Mrs. Eva-, I mean Lisa.” A bashful smile spread across Astraea’s face having remembered Lisa’s insistence that she be called by her first name early on in their meeting.

Lisa just gave her a pointed look at the near slip, silently laughing at the small mistake. She had a feeling they were going to be great friends. At least she hoped.

They heard a squeal of laughter and turned to see Aiden attempting to do cartwheels on the stage with his friends, both of the women smiling at the sight.

“Well I better go wrangle up that monkey and take him home,” Astraea stood with Lisa following suit. “Thank you, Lisa, for allowing me to help with the play.”

“No no, thank _you_ , dear, for volunteering in the first place!” Lisa grasped Astraea’s arm and gave it a gentle squeeze, “I don’t even want to think about what would have happened had you not stepped up.”

Laying her hand over Lisa’s, Astraea squeezed back, “It was my absolute pleasure.”

Aiden’s laughter caught their attention once more. They turned to see that the younger kids had made a dog pile on top of one of the high school students. Astraea laughed and stepped towards the stage.

“Aiden love, it’s time to go! Say goodbye to your friends.”

Aiden’s head popped up from behind the massive pile with a wide grin on his face, looking like a prairie dog popping up from the ground. He quickly said goodbye to his friends and ran towards the side of the stage, being more careful coming down the stairs. Running up to Astraea, he latched onto her leg breathless from his run but laughing all the same.

“You look like you had fun,” said Astraea, running her hand through his slightly sweaty hair.

“Yeah it was a lot of fun! I’m hungry, can we get pizza now?” Aiden was looking up at her with his green eyes sparkling in mirth.

Astraea smiled down at him and looked up to Lisa who looked at Aiden with a smile. “I guess I better get this one some food before he turns into a monster. It was so lovely to meet you Lisa. I’m glad I was able to come today.”

Astraea held out her hand to shake Lisa’s hand in farewell but Lisa just waved it away and brought Astraea into a hug, surprising her. This was an all too familiar and missed feeling; the feeling of a motherly embrace. Astraea returned the hug with a shocked look on her face, not knowing what to think about it.

Pulling back, Lisa gave Astraea a glowing smile. “It was lovely to meet you too, Astraea. I can’t wait to work with you again.” Lisa turned and bent down to Aiden who had been politely quiet while the adults were talking. “And you, young man, continue to be a good boy for your aunt, ok?”

“Ok, Miss Evans! I promise!” Aiden rocked back on his heels, a wide smile adorning his face.

Starting their walk out the door, Astraea turned back to Lisa, “I’ll see you next Tuesday.”

Lisa waved them off with a smile, “I’m looking forward to it.”

* * *

Astraea and Aiden were chowing down on pepperoni pizza, as they sat at the kitchen island in the Coleman’s modest yet exceedingly elegant home. Cara had sent a text letting Astraea know she was on her way home, and Noah had yet to return from work.

It was just past 6 and the sun was just about to meet the horizon, giving the kitchen an earthy glow to it. The Coleman’s kitchen had to be one of Astraea’s favorite rooms in the house. It flowed into the rest of house effortlessly giving the room an open and comfy atmosphere. To the left through a doorway was a sitting room, and to the right opening right from the kitchen was the living room, where the TV was playing Disney’s _Tarzan_. Astraea was an avid fan of Disney, so when Aiden requested it, Astraea did a mental fist pump in the air. To Astraea, Disney was life.

The kitchen was all hardwood floors, white molding, white cabinets, and the island they were sitting at had a wooden top. There was a wraparound counter on the other side of the island from where they were sitting, and above the sink was a wide open arched window that allowed one to view into a small circular room surrounded by large windows on all sides. The small room, which was a breakfast nook, was furnished with a small family table. It had a door that led onto the back porch which flowed onto a big, but private backyard.

It was a beautiful house, with 4 bedrooms and 4 and a half bathrooms, and while the price wasn’t anything to sneeze at, it was way less excessive than what Cara was usually known for.

Cara had always been extravagant and out there, to the extent that one time Astraea caught her looking at mansions that were for sale online when they were in their early teens. Astraea couldn’t judge her though; she had been looking at the prices of castles earlier that same week. Astraea had  _always_ wanted a castle; that was basically the dream.

Cara probably would have bought a mansion had it not been for Noah. He grew up a snobby rich kid with the giant mansion and the expensive cars, and had no desire for Aiden to grow up the same way. So after they got married, knowing they were gonna start a family, they compromised on this very house. It was elegant and gracefully built and furnished like a mansion, but small enough to be a pleasant family home.

Astraea had just finished off her second piece of pizza when she heard the garage door slam shut. Aiden was too focused on _Tarzan_ and his pizza to really notice anything at the moment.

Swallowing down her pizza, Astraea called out, “Care, is that you?”

“Ye-yeah, yeah…. just give me a sec.” Cara hesitantly called back.

 _Ok….something is not right,_ thought Astraea. Cara was usually exuberant and talkative the moment she got home. Hearing that faint stutter in her voice made warning bells go off in Astraea’s head.

Having heard his mother’s voice, Aiden whipped his head around in excitement, “Mommy’s home!” He started to scramble off his chair before Astraea told him to wait.

“Aiden, let’s give your mommy some time to unwind, ok?” She wiped some excess sauce off his chin and gave him a calming smile.

Astraea heard the click of Cara’s heals head up the stairs, and the door to the master bedroom closed.

Looking up in the direction that Cara went, Astraea continued to speak to Aiden. “I think your mom just needs a moment to herself. She’ll be down in a little bit, alright, love?”

“Ok, Aunt Rae.” Aiden smiled at her and took the offered napkin from Astraea, messily wiping the rest of his face of crumbs. “I’m all done eating, can I go watch _Tarzan_ in the living room?”

Astraea smiled at him, “Sure thing, sweetheart. Clean up your spot though, and put your dishes in the sink, and wash your hands please.”

“Yes ma’am,” replied Aiden. He was just too darn cute.

Aiden carefully maneuvered off the tall chair then grabbed his plate. He walked over and gently placed it in the sink, stretching on his tippy toes as far as he could to prevent the plate from crashing down. He then walked back to do the same with his cup, but finished off his apple juice first before he put that in the sink too. He went to the small bathroom by the foyer to wash his hands, then happily ran and jumped onto the couch, putting all of his attention on the Disney classic.

Astraea continued to finish cleaning the kitchen, wiping down the counters, and doing the dishes as she waited for Cara to come down. She heated up a couple of slices for her friend and put the rest on a pan in the warmer drawer underneath the oven for Noah when he got home.

Leaning against the island in thought, Astraea couldn’t help but worry. Cara just came from the doctors and who knew what kind of news she received there. From her reaction, it couldn’t be good. She was chewing on her lip in thought when she heard the patter of feet and saw Cara walk into the kitchen. She was dressed in a pair of leggings, and Noah’s gray Harvard sweatshirt with her hair thrown up in a messy ponytail. She looked incredibly drained but put on a smile when she saw her little boy.

“Mommy!” Having heard her too, obviously on high alert for her, Aiden jumped from his seat and ran to his mom. Cara grinned at him and caught him in her arms. SHe hoisted him up and had him wrap his small legs around her waist, her arms supporting him under his bottom. Aiden laughed as she covered his face and kisses, trying to return them. 

“Hey, sweetie, how was your day?”

“It was great! I took a test at school and my teacher said I did really well, and I also made a new friend at lunch time, his name is Oliver, and then Aunt Rae came and get me and took me to play practice, and then the teachers said we were gonna have to stop practice, but then Aunt Rae saved the play! And then practice was a lot of fun and-,”

“Wait wait wait, what do you mean Aunt Rae saved the play?” Cara looked between Aiden and Astraea in confusion. “What happened to it in the first place?”

“Oh yeah, so I have some news,” Astraea laughed nervously, tapping her fingers against the counter top. “I kind of volunteered to be the pianist for the play.”

Cara gave her an amused smile with confusion lacing her tone, “How do you kind of volunteer for something like that?”

“Well, the pianist they had was in an accident and she wasn’t gonna be able to come to any rehearsals most likely for the rest of the year, and I just saw how devastated Aiden looked when he heard the news and I couldn’t let him down so I volunteered-,”

“Ok ok stop, you literally sounded like Aiden just now,” Cara giggled with Aiden giggling right along with her even though they were both sure he had no idea what they were talking about.

“That’s great, Rae. I don’t know why you’d think I’d disapprove.” Cara gave Aiden one last peck on the cheek and had him slide back down to the floor. She sat at one of the island chairs and Aiden climbed right up on the seat next to hers.

Taking the warm pizza out of the microwave, Astraea slid that across the counter towards Cara, then went to get a sparkling water from the fridge for her too. “Well, I don't know. You were talking to me in your ‘mom’ voice, so it automatically got me defensive.” She placed the bottle in front of Cara and gave her a grin.

Cara returned the grin, but it didn’t last as she picked at her pizza.

“So, I’m gonna be coming with you now to take Aiden to practice, or if you’re ever busy and can’t come, I’ll be happy to take him myself.

“That’s great, Rae.” Cara answered distractedly. Astraea could see that Cara was trying to hold a smile, but it just wasn’t sticking for some reason. This wasn’t good.

Aiden placed his little hands on his mother’s shoulder and gave her a wide grin, “Mommy, you wanna hear about the rest of my day?”

Cara turned and gave him a kiss on his nose, a little smile adorning her face, “Of course, sweetheart, but I need to talk to Aunt Rae real quick. Why don’t you go finish watching Tarzan and later on we’ll cuddle in your bed and you can tell me all about your day. How about that?”

“But I wanna tell you now….please?” Aiden lips turned into a pout and Cara gave him a gentle but reprimanding look.

“Aiden Alexander,” that was all Cara had to say with a raise of her eyebrows, and Aiden new she meant business. The middle name always meant business.

Aiden gave a loud, dramatic sigh and made his way over to the couch, dramatically falling onto it.

The two women both snickered in amusement, loving every moment with that kid.

Turning to her friend, Astraea just watched her. Cara’s smile which was full mirth from watching her son, faded away into a look of nostalgia as she gazed into the living room where her baby boy was throwing a silent fit.

“Care….are you alright?” Astraea had a worried look on her face as Cara’s head swiveled in her direction.

Cara continued to pick at her food in silence, her eyes glazed over in thought, before she pushed away the plate completely.

“I….have some news Rae….and I don’t know how everyone’s gonna feel about it. Heck I don’t even know how I feel about it, except that I’m a huge bundle of nerves.”

Astraea gave her a look, “Cara, you’re scaring me.” Looking over at the living room to make sure that Aiden was focused on the television, Astraea rounded the island and took the seat next to Cara. “What happened at the doctors? Was it something bad? I thought you said this was just a standard checkup?”

“It _was_ just a standard checkup, but the doctor found something.”

“Oh my god,” Astraea’s eyes grew wide. Her heart beat hard in her chest, afraid of the turn that this conversation was taking. “Care, it’s not cancer is it? Oh my god please tell me that it’s anything but that I-,”

Aiden’s laughter broke Astraea out of her anxiety ridden attack and they both turned to look at him, seeing his eyes glued to the TV with extreme focus.

As she turned her attention back to Cara, Astraea lowered her voice, making sure to speak lowly so Aiden wouldn't overhear. Astraea grabbed Cara's hand and gave her a hard look. “Cara, please for the love of everything that is good in this world, tell me that you are not sick.”

Cara gave her a long look, just studying her friends face, making Astraea’s worry grow tenfold by the second.

“I’m not sick, Rae……..I’m pregnant.”

The silence was deafening, only broken by the sounds of the TV and Aiden’s laughter. Astraea just gave Cara a dumbfounded look before she shrieked in delight, almost tackling her friend, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug.

“CARA! THIS IS WONDERFUL NEWS!” Astraea rocked Cara back and forth. Cara laughed along with her and returned the hug.

Aiden having heard the commotion ran over to join them. “What happened?! Tell me too, I wanna know!” He was jumping up and down on his toes, giggling in delight.

Astraea pulled back from the hug, still holding Cara at arm’s length, and gave her the widest smile. “Your mom just had a really good day, monkey. A _really_ good day.”

“Yeah, sweetie. I’ll tell you all about it later on when you tell me about your day too, ok?” Cara looked at Aiden expectantly, hoping that he would drop the subject for now as she wasn’t ready to give him this sort of news at the moment.

Aiden heaved a big sigh at being left out of the loop. “Okaaaaay.” He trudged his way to the couch again, but like any six-year-old, his attention was immediately captured by the magic of Disney.

Astraea quickly pulled Cara back into a hug and squeezed her, albeit gentler than she normally would considering her friends condition.

“God, Cara, you scared the crap out of me. I wish I could shake some sense into you, but given your delicate state, I’m letting you off the hook.” Astraea pulled back to look her in the eye and gave her a perplexed look. “Why were you acting like it was something life threatening? This is something to celebrate.”

“I was just extremely nervous and a little bit scared.” Cara shrugged her shoulders a bit and looked down at the now cold pizza, tearing bits of the crust off with her fingers. “I mean, this is a big change and it wasn’t planned. Noah and I haven’t even talked about having another kid and here I am with a bun cooking in the oven.” She let out a humorless chuckle and wiped her hand clean of crumbs. She pushed the plate away and placed her arms on the counter, burying her face in them.

Astraea gave Cara a sympathetic look, rubbing small circles on her back. “Hey, everything’s gonna be ok. I know Noah, and I know that he’s gonna be overjoyed at the news that he’s gonna get to be a dad again. Remember how excited he was when you told him you were pregnant with Aiden? I believe that’s the second time I’ve ever seen him near tears, the first time at your wedding.”

Cara turned her head, giving Astraea a grin, “I love how with all his declarations and acts of bravado, deep down he’s such a sensitive ball of fuzz.”

Astraea laughed and returned the grin, sitting back in her chair and leaning her head against her hand. Cara had fallen back in silence, tracing the counter top with a finger, a small smile on her face.

“So how far along are you?” Asked Astraea.

“The doctor said I’m about six weeks along, which makes sense. I realized after he told me that my period didn’t come when it was supposed to three weeks ago.”

Astraea raised her eyebrows in slight surprise, “Wow, that far along?”

“Yeah, and what I can’t stop thinking about is which round of sex was the time that did it.” Cara sat up, and leaned on her elbows, her brow furrowed in concentration. Astraea snorted in amusement; of course that would be what Cara most wanted to know.

“It was six weeks ago, so it had to have been after you and I got back from that trip to Rome, but it’s still hard to say cause Noah and I go at each other like bunnies.” Cara’s eyes were focused somewhere far off, her fingers tapping against her bottom lip. Astraea didn’t interrupt her, she just sat there silently laughing at Cara’s brazen personality. God she loved her best friend.

Cara suddenly sat up straight in her chair, her hands slapping against the wooden counter top, “Oh my god, I know when it was! It was a Thursday morning and I woke up really early, like before dawn, extremely horny and in my efforts to wake Noah up and get some from him, I completely forgot the condom!” She slumped back in her chair a baffled smile on her face. “Makes sense that I did though. God that was some damn good sex.”

“Wait, condom? I thought you were on the pill?” Astraea asked in confusion.

“I am, but the pill isn’t always one hundred percent accurate. I mean I’m kind of living proof of that,” replied Cara, gesturing to her belly. “We used condoms too just for extra protection.”

Astraea had to admit she was right about that and gave Cara a look of agreement. At that moment, they heard the garage door open and a deep voice call out a greeting. “Hey, I’m home!”

Cara momentarily froze and gave Astraea nervous look, her hands smoothing down her hoodie (Noah’s hoodie?) over her stomach.

“Just breathe, Care, everything’ll be fine,” whispered Astraea. She then yelled, “We’re in the kitchen!”

Aiden had bolted off the moment he heard the door open. The girls could hear him chatting to his dad about his day and they listened to Noah’s amused replies.

He walked in a moment later, looking dashing as always in his navy, three-piece suit. His light brown hair was perfectly coifed, and he had a nice scruff growing on his face. His arms were completely full; one hand carrying his briefcase, the other arm supporting a chatty six-year-old. He smiled wide when he saw Cara and Astraea, walking over and placing his briefcase on the counter. He walked around to Astraea and gave her a peck on the forehead in greeting which caused her to smile. He’d always been like an older brother to her. Often annoying but extremely protective, exactly like a big brother.

“Hey, Rae. How are things?”

“Things are good. There’s pizza in the warmer drawer if you’re hungry.”

“Famished.” He said with a grin. “The Supreme with extra peppers and sauce?”

“I’m pretty sure you would kick me out of your house if I bought any other kind,” she returned.

Noah just laughed, Aiden laughing along with him. God, thinking about how much of a carbon copy Aiden is to Noah is completely different from seeing them together like this. Both laughing, dimples in the same place, nose crinkling in the exact same way. It was completely adorable.

“Down you go, Creature,” Noah affectionately said. He gave Aiden that nickname after they discovered Aiden’s habit of creeping around corners in an attempt to surprise people. Noah let Aiden slide down to the floor before he stepped over towards Cara. “Gotta give a proper greeting to the queen of our castle.”

Astraea slid off her chair and quietly excused herself to the living room in an attempt to give them some privacy, calling Aiden who happily trailed behind her.

Cara had the sweetest smile on her face, her eyes locked with Noah’s. She turned in her chair to better face him and Noah raised his hand, his fingers trailing across her cheek. He leaned forward, his noise playfully bumping against hers, their foreheads pressed together.

“Hi,” Noah whispered, his breath fanning across her face, intermingling with hers.

“Hi,” Cara gently replied. Noah gave a small chuckle before he slowly leaned in and captured her lips, both of their eyes closing at the contact.

Cara breathed in deeply, running her hands up his abdomen to grab the lapels of his jacket, while Noah angled his head to deepen the kiss, one hand going to the nape of her neck, the other landing on her hip. They parted after a moment, just smiling at each other, Noah diving in a couple more times to peck her on the lips.

As she sat on the couch with Aiden on the floor at her feet (coloring away in a coloring book he managed to find), Astraea silently snuck a few peeks of their moment, a small smile on her lips.

Cara and Noah had a deep love built on friendship and carefully cultivated by every obstacle they’ve ever had to face together. It was a kind of love Astraea hoped to find for herself one day. To have that complete and utter trust in someone, to be able to speak without words, using a language that no else can understand because it was solely yours. It was a language spoken through the eyes coming straight from the heart. She was happy for her friends. Happy to see them in love and overjoyed by the beautiful family they were creating.

Cara smiled up at Noah, the corners of her lips faltering a bit as Noah ran his hands up and down her arms. She tried to catch herself, but Noah noticed the change immediately.

“Cara, are you ok? What’s wrong?” Cara’s head had dropped a bit, her eyes averted to the side, but Noah cupped her chin in his hand and raised it up to make sure she looked at him. “Hey, love, what’s a matter? Tell me please?”

Cara took his hand from her face, holding it in hers, and looked over Noah’s shoulder to catch Astraea’s eye. She didn’t have to say anything; Astraea new immediately what Cara was trying to tell her. She was about to tell Noah the news and wanted some privacy.

“Hey, Aiden buddy, let’s go upstairs and start your bath, that away you’ll be nice and clean to hang out with your mom and dad later.”

“Ok. Can I take my coloring book?” Aiden asked.

Astraea laughed as she hoisted him up in her arms. “You can take it upstairs with us, but not in the bath. Unfortunately, waterproof paper hasn’t been invented yet.” They walked out of the room and Astraea turned to give Cara an encouraging smile right before they headed upstairs.

Astraea was kneeling on the floor next to Aiden’s bathtub washing his hair, when she heard a loud whoop of joy come from Noah downstairs. Resounding laughter and exclamations of happiness resonated throughout the house from the kitchen at the news of Cara’s pregnancy. She knew Cara didn’t have anything to worry about. Noah was just as excited about this baby as he was about Aiden. Astraea just smiled in delight at Aiden who giggled and smiled back, also hearing his parents.

Being an orphan all her life, Astraea's mindset, no matter how hard she tried or how much effort someone might give, was that she'd always be an orphan. There would always be parts of her life that she would never be able to fill: parents, siblings, a home, somewhere she truly belonged, and a family she truly belonged to. Those were just childhood dreams. She had even lived the dream for a while, but it was ripped away and she was forced to wake up. It had become like clockwork in her life and seemed inevitable that she would always lose the one thing she only ever, truly wanted.

While they may not be blood, Cara and Noah were her family; or at least as close as she could get to one. They opened up a place in their lives, a place in their family, honored her with the role of godmother to their son, and Astraea would always be grateful to them. For most of her life she’d been alone, but they stepped in and gave her companionship.

 She was gonna love these three for the rest of her life, and excitingly enough in eight months, that love was gonna spread to a fourth member.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapter! 
> 
> Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought about it or if you have any constructive criticism for my writing. It would be greatly appreciated! Comments literally make my day!


	4. Friends and Favors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally 6000+ words, but I split it in half to accommodate my wonderful readers who prefer the chapters on the shorter side. I may go back and forth with long and short chapters depending on the flow of the document.
> 
> I would like to thank the amazing holsvick for betaing for me. I am truly grateful for, not only your help in editing this story, but for also helping me hone my skills as a writer! You rock!!
> 
> Anywho, I hope you enjoy this one! More development is underway!

 

**September, 2011**

Nearly a month and a half had passed since Astraea had volunteered at the Concord Youth Theatre and she had loved every moment so far. It was the middle of September and the play was coming along great; though it wasn’t showing for another two months, all the kids were excited. It was still too early on for the kids to be nervous right now, but Astraea knew that nerves would hit the kids at some point as the opening night of the play got closer. They always got nervous for the play, but Astraea didn’t doubt that they would overcome their fear and be amazing. They always did.

Astraea had gotten to know many of the kids as well, some of them making it a habit to come and sit with her and watch her play when it wasn’t their turn on stage. All the kids were so amazing and Astraea loved to see the passion in their eyes when they were on stage. They all dearly loved the art of acting and it was something inspiring to watch.

Along with getting to know the kids, Astraea had also grown closer to Lisa. They talked for hours every time they saw one another and had even spent a weekend together at the theatre, getting things prepared after Astraea had volunteered to help. They had known each other only a month, but Astraea already held this wonderful woman in high regard. If anything, Lisa had become sort of a mother figure to Astraea.

She was just so easy to talk to and so full of wisdom that Astraea often found herself sharing with Lisa the burden of decisions she needed make. There seemed to be many, both business and personal like the potential blind date that Cara was trying to set up for her. She really needed to talk to her friend about backing off in that regard. As much as she loved Cara, she was not looking for a boyfriend right now.

Lisa gave the greatest advice and knew exactly what to say in every single conversation they had. Every piece of advice she gave Astraea, comforted her and made the decision making process that much easier. Astraea had commented on this fact and Lisa just smiled and said that her years of being a mother had honed that particular skill set. She definitely had that maternal sense, and it was one of the things that made Astraea want to be around her.

In the time that they worked together, Lisa had made it a priority to learn something new about Astraea every time she saw her. She had steadily learned small things about Astraea, like how she loved to read (big fan of _Harry Potter_ that one _)_ , she had two dogs named Keira and Dundy, and she was a complete Disney nerd. Astraea had jokingly told Lisa that she went to Disney World at least 12 times a year, practically once every month. As Lisa was walking away, she had a hard time holding in her laughter after she heard Astraea whisper “I wish” under her breath. Astraea was adorable. She had also learned that Astraea traveled overseas every once in a while for work, though Astraea had assured her that she could decide when to travel, so she wouldn’t have to leave before the play was finished.

At one point, even in the middle of practice, Lisa had made a new discovery about Astraea. Astraea had been playing one of the musical numbers when the piano started to make a rattling sound every time she hit certain keys.

While the piano wasn’t ancient, it wasn’t exactly young. It had been the theatre’s piano for over 15 years, so Lisa wasn’t surprised. She was about to call for the rest of practice to be cancelled until they could get someone out there to repair it when Astraea stopped her.

“It’s fine, Lisa, I’ve got it. This is a quick and easy fix.”

Lisa had turned from talking to her coworkers back to Astraea to see that the blonde had opened the back of the upright piano to get a look at the inside.

“It looks like some of the screws holding in a couple of the hammers have come loose. The hammers are the parts that hit the strings of the piano causing them to vibrate, which emits the music that you hear every time you hit a key,” explained Astraea. “I just need a screwdriver and some time, and we’ll be good to go.”

Lisa just gave her a dumbfounded look as a kneeling Astraea calmly smiled back at her. This girl was just one surprise after another.

A screwdriver had been retrieved and Lisa was standing over Astraea, holding a flashlight for her so they could better see inside.

“So how do you know how to repair a piano?” Lisa asked. This girl just kept throwing curveball after curveball.

Astraea chuckled a bit, checking the durability of one of the piano’s hammers after she had finished tightening its screw. “My dad’s family has a business in manufacturing called Kingston Instrument Company, or KIC; they’ve been an instrument manufacturer since the mid 1800s. I learned how to build and repair instruments from my dad.”

“Oh…wow,” said Lisa in surprise. Her father’s family owned their own business? And one that had been around for almost two centuries. This was something she was not expecting to hear. “So your dad taught you?”

Astraea smiled, still focused on her work. “Yeah….even though he was the CEO of this big company, he made it a priority to go into the factory every week and help with production. He never really cared for the business side of it all. His passion was in the making of the instruments.” She finished tightening a screw, checked the hammer, and shifted on her heels to move to the other end.

Lisa followed her movements with the flashlight, silently listening to her story, riveted on what the young musician had to say. “He taught me how to build, break down, and put a good majority of instruments back together. I grew up with music; creating it, performing it. It’s basically the basis of my life. Then my dad taught me about the instruments I played; how they worked, and what made them make the sounds they produced.” Astraea paused, brow furrowed in thought. “I don’t know…..a part of me just found a whole new appreciation for the instruments I played. In a way I just felt more connected to the songs I created.” She paused then looked at Lisa quickly, cocking her head, “Does that make sense? I feel like I never make any sense,” Astraea laughed at herself a bit.

“No, no, you do!” Lisa reassured her, touching her shoulder. “Don’t worry, you do.” She gave the blonde a smile which was immediately returned.

Turning back to the piano, with just a couple more screws to tighten, Astraea brightened up. “Fun fact: it’s hard to really distinguish between the different brands of instruments if you’re not in the music industry, but the Kingston brand is one of the top 5 best brands in the world.” Astraea said proudly. Leaning on the balls of her feet, her white converse bending with her weight, Astraea looked up at Lisa with a grin.

“That’s amazing,” remarked Lisa. She gave Astraea a fond smile, enjoying the girl’s exuberance. “So are you still involved with your father’s business? Or is it yours now since he’s passed…?”

Had Lisa not been focused on her, she would have missed how Astraea’s smile dropped for a fraction of a second before she turned back to the piano, hiding her face in the reparations.

“Uh...no. No, I’m not.” Astraea paused for a second. “After my dad passed, the company was inherited by my dad’s younger brother. Since I was adopted, I didn’t have any legal rights to it; which is all fine by me. Like my dad, I was never interested in the business side to it, just the manufacturing.” She continued to talk quickly, wanting to explain a bit, but not wanting to get too much into it. “The main headquarters is over in England, but the company has expanded since it was founded. Along with some places in Europe, there are factories in Philadelphia, Chicago, and of course here in Boston. After my parents passed, I just couldn’t step back in there…that among other reasons.” She had said the last part under her breath, but Lisa still caught it.

“You were adopted?” A part of Lisa’s heart broke thinking that this wonderful girl was an orphan, two times over apparently. She felt a sense of compassion go out to the girl, wondering what all she’d been through in her life.

Her face still hiding, Astraea quietly answered. “Yeah…yeah, I was.”

She was about to question her more when Astraea announced she was finished. She reassembled the piano, making sure everything was set before she straightened back up. She walked around and played a short tune, making sure the keys were fixed before she looked at Lisa.

“There, good as new.”

Leaning against the back of the piano, Lisa gave her a grateful look. “Thank you so much, Astraea. You really saved me the headache of having to hire someone to repair it.”

“Yeah, that’s not fun. Especially if you run into the expensive labor, cheap work repair companies. I’ve seen that happen before.” Astraea gave a small grimace.

Lisa heaved an exhausted sigh. “Oh don’t say that, dear. This whole situation reminded me that I have a piano at home that needs fixing. I’ve been putting it off cause that’s exactly the situation I’m not looking forward to getting in.” She rubbed her brow with her fingers, feeling an impending headache coming on.

Astraea gave her a look, “You have a broken piano? I can come fix it for you if you want.”

Lisa looked back at her in slight disbelief, “Are you serious? Astraea, you’ve already done so much not only for the theatre, but for me as well! I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering,” replied Astraea, an amused smile gracing her lips. “Besides, I really want to…in fact, I’d be happy to do it.”

“You are just an angel from above.” Lisa took the hand that Astraea had lying on top of the piano and gave it a squeeze. “Now, how much do you want me to pay you?”

“Oh no, no, no, there’s no need for payment.” Astraea exclaimed. “This would be completely free of charge.”

“Astraea, I can’t let you do this for free! That would be too much!”

“No, it wouldn’t, Lisa,” Astraea reassured. “I would be completely happy to do it. It is the _least_ I can do after everything you’ve allowed me to do here at the theatre.”

Lisa gave a hesitant look; she was obviously going to lose this battle. “Well, if you insist…...but you’re going to let me do something for you in return.”

Astraea just giggled, happy at her victory. “Whatever you want.”

“I know! How about I cook dinner for you the day you come over?” Lisa asked in excitement. “It would be wonderful to sit down and have a meal with you. It would also ease my conscience for letting you do this for free so I am not taking no for an answer, young lady.” She wagged her finger in front of Astraea’s face to emphasize her point, being firm in her decision.

Astraea just raised her eyebrows, partly in amusement, and partly in fear. “Yes ma’am.”

* * *

 So here she was, three days later on a Friday afternoon, a bit nervous but incredibly excited. She had been standing outside of her car, leaning against the roof of the Audi with the door still open, just looking at the house for a moment. It wasn’t big and it wasn’t small. It looked exactly like the kind of home you’d raise a family in. Astraea remembered Lisa mentioning that she had four kids. Gazing at the front yard, she could imagine it; she could imagine four little kids running around, creating memories together. How lucky were those four people to have each other, to be raised in this house with two loving parents? To be able to grow up together, to learn together, to fight together, to love each other. She wondered if they knew how lucky they were, to always have a friend with them, a constant companion, knowing that no matter what happened or no matter how bad things got, they were siblings and they’d always have each other. Connected and bound by blood.

 _I’m starting to get waaaaay too pessimistic_ , Astraea thought to herself, shaking her head a bit. She closed the door of her car, a small bag of tools over her shoulder, and made her way up the brick steps to the front door. She took a deep breath before knocking, her nerves sizzling as she waited for someone to answer.

Lisa greeted her at the door with a smile. She was dressed more casually than Astraea had ever seen her, wearing a white blouse with jeans and some comfy looking house shoes on her feet. Astraea was dressed down as well, considering she was about to do some light manual labor. She was wearing her white converse, dark blue jeggings, and a white top with a red, white, and black plaid shirt open over it, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her blonde curls were in a messy braid down her back, strands of hair framing her face.

“Astraea! Hello, dear.” Lisa had pulled her into a hug, and Astraea happily accepted it. Over the past month, she had learned that Lisa was a hugger, and while it had thrown Astraea for a loop at first, she had come to love Lisa’s hugs.

“Come in, come in. I was just straightening up a few things, making sure that there was nothing in your way for when you work.”

Walking passed Lisa into the house, Astraea immediately scoped out her surroundings. “You didn’t have to do that.” She muttered absentmindedly, just taking in the atmosphere of the home. There was a dining room to the left, a living room to the right, and a staircase in the foyer leading upstairs. She could see a doorway in the dining room that lead to what she assumed was the kitchen, and the living room opened up into another sitting room. Hardwood floors lined the house with the occasional carpeted room like the sitting room.

The house was beautiful and homey, but what immediately caught her eye was something so simple. On the wall of the staircase was a row of pictures leading up towards the second floor, and in each frame were individual pictures of two girls and two boys. They looked like middle school or high school pictures. Astraea walked up the first couple of steps to get a better look.

“Are these your kids?” She asked Lisa, glancing at the woman briefly before she turned back to study the pictures.

Lisa had followed her to the staircase, leaning up against the banister, watching Astraea study the pictures. The smile on her face was warm as she looked at the photos. “Yeah, those are my kids. They’re all grown up now, but a part of me will never stop seeing them at this age. They can proclaim their adulthood all they want but they’ll never stop being my babies.”

Astraea turned to give Lisa a small smile before she turned back to the pictures.

The first picture was of a girl with auburn hair and a bright smile. While there were some features that looked to be from Lisa, Astraea had to guess that she took more after her dad. The second picture was of a goofy looking kid with a bowl cut that was parted down the middle. He was sporting a jean jacket that was buttoned up all the way to the neck, and braces on his teeth. He had a beautiful smile though that lit up his whole face, especially his eyes. If Astraea had to describe him, she’d say he was an adorable dork. The third picture was of another boy, who looked almost like a carbon copy of the first boy, just without the bowl cut. It seemed he had learned from his brother’s mistake and played it safe with a cropped hairstyle. His smile was as equally bright as his first two siblings. There was a certain happiness about him that could only come from a safe, loving childhood. The joy that shone through his eyes, was something Astraea shamefully coveted. She wondered if that joy was still present in him today… The last picture was of a girl with dark brown hair in two low pigtails, and a smile that, while still filled with joy, was shyer than her three siblings. Astraea could definitely see a lot of Lisa’s features on her. This one no doubt took after her mother.

“What are their names?” she asked Lisa.

“From left to right, Carly, Chris, Scott, and Shanna. Like I said, all grown up, but they’re still my babies.”

Astraea studied the pictures a bit more, putting faces to those imaginary kids she could see running around the front yard, and running around the house. She turned and gave Lisa a tiny smile. “You have a beautiful family.”

Lisa beamed at the thought of her children. “Thank you,” she said. “Now if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to the piano.”

Astraea gave one last look at the four photos before she walked down the last couple of steps, following Lisa down the hall. There were more photos lining the hallway, some of Lisa’s kids at different ages, and some of other people she didn’t recognize. They had turned into the sitting room where Astraea came to an abrupt halt.

“Now you can see why I said I was trying to tidy up before you arrived,” said Lisa with an amused huff.

The sitting room was littered with toys. It looked like a Toys R Us hurricane had run through it. There were toddler toys all around, along with little baby toys that went with it. Blocks, and coloring books surrounded an entertainment system, and the couch was covered in puzzles, some of the pieces scattered on the ground. In one corner there was a pack and play, and nearby one of those baby jungle gym mats that allowed an infant to lie on its back and swat at the toys hanging from the arch. All through this on the other side of the room, sitting in the opposite corner was a small, black baby grand piano.

Hands on her hips, Lisa looked around the room in disappointment. “I’m sorry for the mess, Astraea. I was trying to clean up as much as I could, but I had to go to the grocery store right after work to pick up groceries for dinner, and I was just putting the food away when you knocked.” Lisa began picking up as much as she could, tossing toys in a toy chest next to the couch.

“It’s fine, Lisa,” Astraea assured. She bent down and picked up a stuffed bear, and set it on the bookshelf next to the entrance to the room. “As long as the space around the piano is cleared, I’m good.” She walked over to the piano and set down her bag of tools on the piano chair. Looking over, she saw that Lisa was putting the puzzles back together on the couch.

“So, I thought you said all your kids were grown up….”

Lisa looked up at her with an amused grin. “They are. The little monsters that made this mess are my eldest Carly’s kids; she has two. There’s Ethan who’s two, and Miles who’s a couple of months old.” She finished with the puzzles and set them on a shelf full of toys. “Carly, her husband, and kids all live here with me along with my youngest Shanna.”

“Sounds like you have a full house.” Astraea grinned at Lisa and lifted the lid of the piano, securing it in place so it wouldn’t fall.

Lisa laughed and walked over, standing next to Astraea, watching her inspect the inside of the piano. “After my divorce, and as my kids started getting older and leaving the house, I realized that I was gonna be here all alone and it was kind of scary to me. I never said anything, but Carly saw through my façade and got me to come clean with how I felt. She and her husband offered to continue to live with me, and Shanna got on board too.”

“You have some wonderful kids.” commented Astraea. She had stopped to listen to Lisa, leaning against the side of the piano.

Lisa smiled, her eyes glinting. “I think so too.”

Astraea smiled back, and then straightened up, plucking one of the strings of the piano. “So you said over the phone that when you hit some of the keys, there’s no noise?”

“Yes, exactly. My son Chris was home a couple of months ago and he was getting so frustrated with it, he started pressing really hard on the keys to try to get them to work.”

“Yeah, that’s never good.” Astraea reached down into the piano and picked up a couple of broken sticks that had an oval shaped head attached to it. She held it up in front of them. “Some of the hammer heads broke off. The added pressure when it wasn’t working probably didn’t help it either.”

“Well no wonder,” Lisa sighed. “Is it easy to fix?”

“Yeah, this is one of the most common problems with pianos. It’s good that we talked on the phone before I came over; I was able to get some replacement heads that will fit this type of piano.” Astraea reached down to clean out the rest of the broken hammers off the bottom of the piano.

“How much did the hammerheads cost? I can pay you back for those…” Lisa had started to walk away, most likely to retrieve her checkbook when Astraea stopped her, placing her hand on her forearm.

“Lisa, it’s alright. I’ve got it covered.” Astraea assured her.

“Are you sure, dear? This all just seems like too much…” Lisa’s brow was furrowed, a worried look gracing her face. Her hands were rubbing together, fidgeting in discomfort.

Astraea took a hold of her shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze. “Don’t worry, Lisa. I’m doing this because I want to, and the cost of the parts isn’t a big deal. I happen to get a one hundred percent off discount from this certain company I know.” Astraea gave Lisa a wink.

Lisa just gave a sweet smile, cupping Astraea’s chin and stroking her cheek with her thumb. “You are too sweet. Now, how long do you think this will take?”

Astraea released her hold on Lisa and inspected the piano. “It’ll probably take a couple hours at the most to completely repair.”

“Perfect. That’s just in time for dinner.” Lisa smiled at her and patted her on the back. Heading towards the hallway, Lisa looked over her shoulder. “Let me know if you need anything, dear. I’ll just be in the kitchen.”

“I will.” _Time to get to work._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter!! I wanna know how many of you picked up on the description of a certain picture. Let me know if you knew what I was talking about ;D
> 
> Also, Chris is coming, I promise! Just be patient! I'm having to tell myself to be patient as well and I'm the one writing it, lol!!
> 
> Please comment and let me know what you think about this chapter or any chapter or the whole story in general!! I would love to hear your thoughts on it!!


	5. Scares and Smiles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Update Day!! Here's another chapter for you, which is once again shorter than my usual length. Hope everyone's cool with that.
> 
> I would like to send a special shout out to my beta, holsvick! Thank you for making my story look as great as it does.
> 
> This chapter has got to be my favorite chapter that I have written so far...and you'll see why *wink*. I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter just as much as I enjoyed writing it!!

Astraea had been at it for about an hour and a half when someone arrived at the Evans’ residence. Lisa had come in and turned the TV on about halfway through to give some background noise. That along with Astraea being engrossed in her work and the music from her earbuds prevented her from taking notice of the new arrival.

Lisa was standing next to the stove, stirring some seasoning into the pot of stew she had made when a figure walked up behind her and placed their hands suddenly on her waist.

“Hi, mommy!”

Startled in fright Lisa turned suddenly, wooden spoon in hand, barely missing the face of the man standing in front of her. He was shaking in silent laughter, a wide grin on his clean shaven face. His hazel eyes were twinkling in amusement at his small childish prank, and while Lisa was slightly frazzled at being caught unaware, she couldn’t help but smile at seeing her baby boy.

“Scott Andrew, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Lisa playfully swatted at his shoulder, before bringing him into a hug.

“Ma, I’d never try to kill you, you’re too important to me. Now, will I constantly bring you to the brink? Yes, if it means I get to see that look on your face every time you get scared.” Scott jumped back in time to miss another swat from his mother, giggling at her slight frustration.

“You had better watch it, young man,” said Lisa, wagging the spoon in his face. “I still know how to use this.” She set the spoon down, and took his hand. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but what are you doing here? Your flight wasn’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow.”

“I caught an earlier flight. I wanted to be able to spend my entire birthday with you tomorrow, rather than spend half the day in an airport. That and I wanted to surprise you.” He said with a grin.

“Well you definitely surprised me,” Lisa said, her eyebrows raised and her hand rubbing her chest above her heart. She smiled at him, and reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Shouldn’t I be the one surprising you on your birthday though?”

Scott took his mother by her shoulders and gave her a serious look. “Ma, just being able to see you on my birthday is the greatest gift I could ask for.”

“Oh, Scott,” Lisa smiled at him, patting his cheek. “You’re so full of crap.”

Scott laughed and leaned away from her. He reached over and pulled out a fresh spoon from the silverware drawer and dipped it into the stew to sneak a taste. Scott groaned in satisfaction at the plethora of flavors sinking into his taste buds from his mother’s wonderful cooking. Lisa just rolled her eyes in amusement, going to pull out ingredients from the fridge to make a salad.

“Hey, I saw there was a fancy looking car parked in front of the house. Is someone important here?” Asked Scott, going to dip his spoon back into the broth before his mother smacked his hand away, and handed him a bowl and a ladle to serve himself. He gave his mother a suspicious look, “It’s not someone from the government…is it?”

“No one’s here to arrest you if that’s what you’re worried about,” joked Lisa, rinsing the lettuce and tearing it into a bowl. “I do think she’s important though. I have a friend who works with me at the theatre and she offered to fix our piano for me for free.”

“Oh that was nice,” said Scott, leaning against the counter with his bowl of stew. “She works at the theatre with you? What does she do?”

“She’s the pianist. She volunteered to fill in for Miss Weatherly until she’s fully recovered.”

“Oh yeah, how is Miss Weatherly? When you called and told me about her you said she was in a car accident, right?”

“Yes. She’s doing well, but she still has chronic pain in her arm and shoulder. She won’t be playing for a while.” Lisa said, pulling over a tomato to chop.

“That’s sad to hear,” Scott said quietly, stirring his stew with his spoon. “She’s a great lady.”

“I agree.” Lisa gave Scott a sad smile, her eyes showing her concern for her old friend. “I believe she’ll pull through though. That woman is tough as nails.”

Scott chuckled a bit, his eyebrows rising as he took another bite of stew. “I believe that,” he said around the food in his mouth. Lisa gave him a look that said “ _manners”_ over his horrible eating habits.

Scott gave a once over on the pot of stew and the salad his mother was making before he posed a question. “So what’s all this food for? I talked to Shanna on the phone yesterday and she said that Carly and Ryan took the kids up to New York to visit his family for the weekend, and she said she was gonna be at a friend’s till Sunday. And you thought I wasn’t arriving till tomorrow so….”

“Well I couldn’t just let Astraea fix the piano without doing something for her in return so I invited her to stay for dinner,” Lisa said in a  matter of fact tone.

Scott made a face. “Astraea? Is that her name? What kind of name is that?”

“Scott Andrew, be nice!” Lisa popped him on the side of the thigh, causing him to jump a bit, snorting in laughter.

“What? It’s a valid question!” He laughed. “I mean, it’s pretty sounding and unique, but I’ve never heard it before.” Scott paused, thinking for a second. “Actually, I take that back. It does sound a bit familiar, I just can’t think of where I’d know it.”

“I thought the same thing!” Lisa exclaimed, looking at him with wide eyes. Scott was trying so hard to keep a straight face at his mother’s exuberance.

“She told me that her name was of Greek origin and that there was a story behind how she got it. I didn’t think anything of it until I got curious and had her spell it for me. I know I’ve seen it somewhere but I can’t think of where,” Lisa said in slight frustration.

“Well I’m sure we’ll think of it sooner or later,” Scott said, rinsing his bowl and spoon and placing them in the dishwasher. “Now, I’m gonna go introduce myself.”

Lisa voiced her approval and went back to fixing dinner. Scott went through the exit of the kitchen near the back of the house, and walked the short way down the hall to the entrance of the living room. There was a figure bent over the side of the piano, half of her body inside, giving him only a side view of her shapely legs and derrière encased in dark blue jeggings. Had he been attracted to the female form, he’s sure he would be appreciating the view in front of him, but as it was that wasn’t the case. He wasn’t gonna deny, from what he could see so far she had a nice figure, it just wasn’t doing anything for him.

He walked over towards the piano, stepping over toys as he went, and approached the girl. Standing next to the back of the piano, he called a greeting but didn’t receive an answer. He called a couple of more times and no reaction; this girl was nothing but dedicated to her work.

He rounded the other side of the piano near the keys and bent over, peeking beneath the lid and above the music rack.

Astraea was so focused on her work, and so into her music that she hadn’t noticed another figure in the room. Unfortunately for her, she was a girl who frightened easily. For this reason, after a horrible Halloween experience at the age of 11, she made a vow before God and every deity out there that she would never again set foot in another haunted house for as long as she lived, nor would she ever watch a horror movie. She also vowed to never forgive Cara for taking her in the first place and continuing her torture for the next week by scaring her without pause. Anyone who knew Astraea understood that scaring her always ended badly.

This situation was no different.

So when a random man popped out of nowhere on the other side of the piano, frantically waving with a large grin on his face…….

Astraea freaked.

She jumped in fright, banging her head on the lid of the piano, causing the lid prop to unhinge from its place, slamming onto her head.

Astraea yelped in pain, attempting to lift as much of the lid off her head as possible, her eyes closed shut from the throbbing coming from the back of her head.

“Oh my god!” the man yelled, lifting the lid the rest of the way and putting the prop back in place.

Astraea backed away from the piano, holding the back of her head in pain, and slowly pulling her buds from her ears.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry! Are you ok?!” He ran over to her side, taking her by the elbow and leading her to sit on the couch.

Lisa ran into the room having heard Astraea’s yell. “What happened?”

“I accidentally scared her and the piano lid fell on her head.” The man explained, kneeling next to Astraea on the couch. He gently removed her hand, checking the back of her skull. Astraea hissed in pain when his fingers ran over the sore spot. “Can you get something to put on the back of her head please? She has a slight bump.”

Lisa nodded and ran back to the kitchen.

“I’m so sorry again. Dear God, I hope you don’t have a concussion.” He said in worry.

Astraea lightly laughed before she realized that wasn’t a good idea, her head pounding from the pressure. “It’s fine. Trust me, I’ve had worse.” She opened her eyes and gave the man a slight smile. She had to do a double take when he smiled back.

That smile looked oddly familiar, as did his whole face. He was very handsome, Astraea noted, and he had a nice voice. It was deep but there was a slight lisp to it.

She was struggling to think of why he looked familiar when Lisa rushed into the room, a bag of ice wrapped in a towel in one hand, and a small cup in another.

“Here you go,” said Lisa, gently pressing the ice against her skull, causing Astraea to reach up and grab a hold of it. “I also brought you some painkillers and water. She handed the medicine over first, waiting as Astraea popped them in her mouth before she handed over the water.

Astraea swallowed it down, placing the cup back in Lisa’s outstretched hand, giving her a small smile and voicing her thanks.

Out of nowhere Lisa whacked the man on the arm, her voice one of disbelief. “I can’t believe you frightened her like that!”

“Ow!” He whined. “I didn’t do it on purpose!” Groaning he rubbed his arm. “And I already apologized to her. She said it was ok.”

“It most certainly is not ok! What if we need to take her to the hospital?” Lisa quickly looked at Astraea in worry. “Oh dear. Do you need to go to the hospital, Hun? How are you feeling?”

Astraea had been watching the two interact in amusement. She slightly shook her head, “No, I’m fine. The throbbing’s starting to lessen and the dizziness is as well. A good night’s sleep will fix up the rest I think.” Astraea looked seriously at the man. “I could be wrong though. I could end up dying in my sleep and if I do…..it’ll be on your conscience.”

The man just gaped at her, looking back and forth from her to Lisa before Astraea lightly chuckled. “I’m just messing with you, lighten up.”

He breathed a sigh of relief in understanding, pretending to wipe fake sweat from his forehead. “Well that’s a relief. Dear God, you scared me for a second.”

Lisa just smiled at Astraea before she paused, her eyebrows raised. “Oh where are my manners. Astraea, this is my son Scott,” she gestured towards him, “and Scott, this is Astraea.” She gestured back towards the girl on the couch.

So this was Scott. This was the little boy in the third picture above the staircase with the bright smile and the joyful eyes. Looking at him now, she had the answer to her question from earlier. He was definitely still blessed with the inner happiness that he had as a child. Along with that happiness, there was a calmness and an inner peace about him that she found intriguing.

Scott just grinned and held out his hand which Astraea accepted, returning his smile and his handshake.

“Well dinner’s ready if you’re up for it,” Lisa said, smoothing some of Astraea’s hair back. “I’ve got beef stew mixed with potatoes and vegetables, and a salad on the side all ready to go.”

“That sounds great, Lisa.” Astraea smiled in gratitude. “Thank you. I’ll be there in a moment.”

“It was my pleasure, dear. Don’t rush; rest for a bit.” Lisa smiled back and exited the room, returning to the kitchen.

Scott sat next to Astraea on the couch, watching his mom go. “Did my mom end up adopting you at some point since you’ve known her?” Scott asked with a smile. “She’s normally very maternal to everyone, but she’s extra protective of you,” he rubbed his arm, “I’ve got the bruises to prove it.”

Astraea laughed and removed the ice from her head, leaning back into the cushions of the couch. “Not that I know of, but she has asked me a couple times already if she could. I don’t know if it’s possible to adopt someone over the age of 18 though, but if she did find a way to adopt me I honestly wouldn’t object.” Astraea hid a grin, putting a nonchalant look on her face. “I mean I’m already her favorite person, it wouldn’t be difficult to be her favorite child.”

Scott just laughed at her comment, looking at her with raised eyebrows. “You are very sure of yourself aren’t you?”

Astraea returned his look with a challenging grin, “Hey, Lisa?” Astraea called.

“Yes, dear?” Lisa yelled back from the kitchen.

“Who’s your favorite child?”

“Are you finally going to let me adopt you?” Lisa shouted in excitement.

Scott and Astraea just burst into laughter at her answer.

“Ma! Really?” Scott yelled in fake offence, shaking his head.

Astraea was wiping tears from her eyes, “Oh my god, I love her so much.”

Scott just shook his head in silent laughter, and then suddenly turned to Astraea, a thoughtful look on his face. “Hey, how old are you?”

“Twenty-five, why?” Astraea returned, a confused look on her face.

“You’re four years younger than me,” Scott shrugged his shoulders, “I guess having another little sister wouldn’t be so bad.” Scott gave her a sweet smile, that joy and peace in his eyes something that Astraea was steadily becoming addicted to. It was something she wanted desperately for herself, and hopefully he would be willing to teach her how to gain it.

Astraea slowly smiled back, her eyes shining in mirth. “You know…I’ve always wanted a big brother.”

In that moment, the smiles on their faces were the prelude to an unbreakable and beautiful friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *evil laughter* I bet ya'll were expecting someone completely different! Don't worry though, he's on his way, I promise! Just bear with me; I want him in the story too already. 
> 
> Please leave a comment! I would love to know your thoughts on the chapter, or the characters, or the whole story in general! It helps keep my confidence levels up, and to let me know I'm doing an ok job at this whole writing thing, lol.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Until next time!


	6. Birthday Sorrows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the things that kills me sometimes is a long wait for a chapter of a story I'm just dying to read. I know your pain, readers, I know your pain, and I'm sorry I've put you through it. Life.....what are you gonna do about it...
> 
> So, new chapter, YAY!! I hope ya'll like this one!!
> 
> I'd like to thank the amazing holsvick for being the greatest beta in the world!

**8 Months Later**

**May, 2012….**

Working in her home this afternoon to keep herself distracted from the fact that her birthday was only days away, Astraea reflected a bit as she looked around the pleasing space. While she didn’t have any particular use for the other three bedrooms in her four bed, four and a half bath home, she didn’t get the house for the extra storage. She didn’t get it for the private lot surrounded by forest with a large and beautiful front and back lawn either (though that was a perk). No…she bought the house for the basement.

No, she didn’t have a creepy doll collection, nor did she have a red room of pain for all of those _50 Shades of Grey_ fanatics. What she had was her very own highly modified, fully furnished and equipped recording studio right in her very own home.

It was a smaller scale version of the studio at Spectrum Records. The staircase came down into a small foyer-like room in the basement. Other rooms branched off from the foyer, but those _were_ actually used for storage. From there, white double doors opened up into her private paradise.

In one corner of the large room, immediately to the left of the entrance, there was a wooden paneled control room surrounded with windows showcasing the view outside. Across the room in the opposite corner was the isolation booth, surrounded by walls of soundproof windows. The recording studio took up almost half of one side of the entire basement, and on the other side of the basement was a sitting area and a small kitchen.

The isolation booth was filled with all of Astraea’s personal instruments: her assortment of guitars, acoustic and electric; her bass, violin, cello, flute, harp, clarinet, etc. In the center of the room was her small red baby grand piano. She had made that piano with her dad when she was 13. It was one of her most treasured items for it symbolized a treasured memory. She also made her acoustic guitar herself. It was black with silver borders, and it had her name engraved in silver writing on the neck of the guitar underneath the strings.

Along the walls in the booth were some other treasured Items as well. Her first violin was hanging on one wall along with her mother’s own violin. There were pictures of amazing moments in her life, like her first performance at the Boston Symphony Hall when she was 6, and a picture of her with the Queen of England when she was 8 years old. There were also pictures of her parents and friends, Cara being in many, along with Noah, Aiden, and the newest addition to the Coleman family, baby Caleb.

Caleb Edward Coleman had been born April 14th, 2012. He was only a month old, but his parents were already so in love with him. Aiden was ecstatic to be a big brother and took his role seriously. He constantly asked his parents and Astraea when Caleb would be big enough to play with him. It was so cute how much he loved his baby brother.

In a separate room off of the kitchen, there were an assortment of shelves built into the walls protected by sliding glass doors. This was her trophy room of sorts. It contained every single award she had ever won in her life. From a small medal give to her by the Queen, all the way to her two Academy Awards. She wasn’t very boastful about them, which is why she kept them in this room. That and the room was closed off to better keep the trophies away from the harmful rays of the sun.

Being in her recording studio Astraea could block out any sounds that would come from the outside world, like the ring of the doorbell or a possible disturbance. She could become so focused on her music and zoned out to everything else, that she was often oblivious to everything around her. Realizing this wasn’t always a good thing, when she first adopted each of her dogs, she trained them like no other dog had been trained before.

She looked fondly at her two dogs: Dundy who was a purebred, black and white border collie, and Keira who was a white and gold Icelandic sheepdog. She’d had Dundy for 8 years and Keira for 6, and she was convinced they were honestly the most amazing dogs in the world.

Any command she gave, they immediately obeyed. They were the most diligent, quiet, and respectful dogs, and she loved them to the moon and back. They were also extremely smart, much so to the point that they came up with their own system of protecting her and she didn’t even realize they’d done it at first.

If someone arrived at the house, Dundy would leave the studio and go upstairs and quietly sit to see if it was a friend or foe. Keira would walk to the door of the isolation booth or control room (whichever room Astraea was in) and silently wait there, ears perked up in alert. If it was a friend, someone harmless like the mailman, or someone who had a key like Cara to let themselves in, Dundy would quietly come back downstairs, nudge Astraea to let her know someone was there, and lay down in his doggy bed next to Keira. If it was a foe, Dundy would stay upstairs barking like crazy, while Keira anxiously got Astraea’s attention before bolting upstairs.

It was an incredible system they came up with and Astraea would have never realized they’d done it had some moron not attempted to break into her house. In the end, Dundy and Keira had managed to scare him off and Astraea had upgraded her security system.

They were extremely quiet animals, only barking if they desperately needed attention or if danger was near. They were also incredibly gentle, which was good considering she often had Aiden over along with Cara and Noah’s brand new baby boy.

She had never planned on having any animals when she was younger. Traveling and performing took up so much of her time that she couldn’t even contemplate taking care of an animal, that and she didn’t exactly have a home to care for it in. The orphanage didn’t allow the kids to have individual pets; the only pet they did have was Charlie the goldfish, who was considered to be everyone’s pet.

It hadn’t been an accident though that she found them, Dundy being the first. She wished that the means for which she was ever at the animal shelter was different than the sad reason she was there in the first place.

When she lost her parents, the trauma was physical as well as psychological, especially because they weren’t taken from this world by accident.

It was her 16th birthday on June 2nd of 2003. Her parents had surprised her with a trip to New York City, and they had the whole thing planned out. A special showing of Astraea’s favorite musical _The Phantom of the Opera_ was playing on Broadway that night, after that they were having dinner at Astraea’s favorite Italian restaurant, and to finish it all off, Clark had arranged for a firework show to be placed in Central Park.

It was an amazing night. The food was great, the show was great, and the fireworks were dazzling. Astraea couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

That is until her world was shattered.

There was a man that worked for her father. His name and appearance was unimportant because Astraea promised herself that he would never have a relevant place in her life.

On the outside he appeared to be a good worker, diligent where he needed to be, helpful to those who needed it. But what no one knew was that he had been stealing money from the company for almost two years. He rose up high in the business, even getting into Clark’s good graces. He was crafty, sneaky, and a very good actor. He did just enough work to get by, and he knew exactly who to suck up to, putting him on the favorite list of most of the bosses and giving him a proper cover to keep himself off the suspect list.

He was good at what he did…until he got caught. He was his own downfall, and his weakness was his inability to understand the word ‘no’.

He would harass the women he worked with and use the power he had gained to threaten them into keeping quiet. He would have gotten away with it too if one woman hadn’t been brave enough and come forward.

In the end, all of the women he had harassed had come together as one and turned him in for sexual harassment. This caused the company to look more deeply into his well-hidden past, and they found several accounts of sexual harassment charges from previous jobs, as well as some prison time in his youth for an unfortunate circumstance involving a girl. Not only that but they were finally aware of their accounts being tampered with and figured out that he had stolen nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

That was the end of his career at the Kingston company, and it looked like it was the end of his career anywhere. Clark Kingston made sure of that.

He lost his job, his house, his credibility. He was completely ruined.

No one knew just how much his rage and contempt for the Kingston family would grow, nor how dangerous he would become. Clark Kingston took everything from him, and he would return the favor tenfold.

He followed them…the whole family for 2 months before he finally found a chance to make his move.

And so, in the privacy of the couple’s special moment, celebrating the life of their precious daughter; unguarded and unaware, under the cover of the faint shattering light and the thunderous booming of the fireworks, no one would have ever heard the sound of a gun going off…twice.

He took them. He took the two most important people in Astraea’s life, and then he took her.

Shaking her head, Astraea refused to think any more on him or what he had done to her. She just once again was grateful to Cara for saving her life a second time.

She didn’t think anything could be worse than what Cara had saved her from the first time. Eight years old in a foster home composed of a husband and wife that were just using her for her money. They were well off already, but greed had consumed them. The man wanted the money, and the woman wanted a distraction for the man, someone for him to focus his abusive attentions on. Unfortunately, his attentions went beyond what were suitable for an 8-year-old girl.

He had left bruises that he made sure she covered up every day and he threatened her, telling her that if she told anyone, she was gonna regret it. Being young and afraid, she believed him. That had gone on for 3 months before an eleven-year-old girl with dark hair and sparkling green eyes noticed the marks one day and brought it to their teacher’s attention. Astraea was removed from the home immediately. The husband and wife were taken to court, charged with child abuse, sexual abuse of a minor, and neglect. They were taken away and Astraea had gained a lifelong friend in Cara.

After her parent’s death, she had been given time to grieve them in her home until she was ready to go back to the orphanage. Being a minor still at 16, she had no choice. After the day Cara had found her on her bathroom floor though, she couldn’t be left alone anymore. What had happened that day was something she’d never shared with anyone.

Therapy seemed to be the best direction to head in after everything that had happened. She had gone through therapy previously after what she had been through when she was 8 and it worked well for her then. It wouldn’t hurt to try it this time as well.

Things had positively progressed with Astraea and her doctor until the kind therapist had an idea.

Without knowing where she was going, blindly and faithfully following her doctor and Cara (who had insisted on going to be able to offer her friend support), a small day trip had taken them to the local Boston animal shelter.

They were given a tour of the shelter. Astraea was curled in on herself wearing a black hoodie that engulfed her weary form, quietly shuffling along and observing the animals around her. She had been told that a lot of these dogs were rescue dogs. Abuse, malnutrition, and being left for dead were a lot of the common cases.

Astraea just walked along when she stopped suddenly. One of the dogs, still considered a puppy despite his growing form, was standing right at the entrance of his cage, a wide happy grin on his face with his tail wagging like crazy. The employee told Astraea his story, how he was abused at his old home for some time until some neighbors took notice and called it in.

Kneeling down with her head at level with the dog’s, her fingers curling around the bars of the small gate, Astraea started when he licked at her fingers. She was surprised when she felt tears start to silently slide down her cheeks.

After everything this dog had been through, all the abuse and neglect he lived through every day, how could he stand there with so much love and trust in his eyes? Someone out there had treated him less than what he was, inflicted pain upon him that he never deserved, and yet his faith in people had not been broken. He had gone through hell, yet he showed no proof that he had been burnt.  

Astraea closed her eyes tightly, tears falling as she leaned her head into the gate, her shoulders shaking in silent sobs as her fingers clenched at the bars in agony. All the while this precious dog silently leaned against the gate that was separating them, offering all the support he could give, his small whines telling her that he understood her pain.

That ended up being his last day in the animal shelter. Astraea was told that his name was Dundy, and when she called him to her, the happy border collie bounded over with joy.

The orphanage protested the pet at first given the rules, but it was on the doctor’s orders that Dundy stay with her and help her through her recuperation. It seemed the bright and joyful dog had sparked a certain brightness in his new owner too.

It took a good while for Astraea to heal. She had resigned herself to that fact that she would never be completely whole again, her soul marred by scars and haunted by the memories of that horrid night, but she never would have gotten to where she was today had she not made that trip to the animal shelter and met Dundy.

They’d been together ever since, and a couple years later they found Kiera too. Just a puppy abandoned in a box at the park near Astraea’s new house which she had purchased after she turned 18 and was free to leave the orphanage. There was no way Astraea could just leave the puppy there, so they gained a new family member.

And so here she was with her family sitting in her control room, losing herself in her music. She was playing with her soundboard and editing music for a current project she was working on, and Dundy and Kiera were relaxed and calm on their beds in the corner. Suddenly, Dundy’s head perked up at hearing someone unlock the front door and enter the house upstairs.

He quickly ran upstairs to see who it was while Kiera perched herself just at the door, waiting for a sign of danger or peace.

For once Astraea’s headphones weren’t over her ears, but she didn’t need to wait for Dundy to come down to know who it was. The obnoxious yelling from the floor above gave her all the answers she needed.

“ASTRAEAAAAA.” Bounding steps sounded from the first floor all the way down the staircase leading into the basement. The thumping of feet shared a tune with the tinkling of Dundy’s collar, who entered the control room a few seconds before a male figure did.

There was nothing quiet or subtle about Scott Evans, but she wouldn’t have him any other way.

“Heyyy, best friend,” Scott sang as he sauntered into the room, plopping himself down in the extra swivel chair at the soundboard.

Astraea glanced at him, a smile playing on her lips as she turned her attention back to the three computers in front of her. They were all side by side above the soundboard, the two on the ends turned at a slight angle toward the center.

“Hey, Scotty,” Astraea greeted. “To what do I owe this unexpected but unsurprising pleasure?” Scott randomly popping in wasn’t an unusual thing. He had even gone so far as to make himself a key to her house after six months of knowing her. To most people that would seem creepy, but this was Scott. He had quickly become one of Astraea’s greatest friends in a short amount of time. Trust had built rapidly between them, and the process of learning about each other was in full swing.

“You owe this wonderful pleasure to your less attractive best friend,” said Scott absentmindedly, obviously referring to Cara.

Astraea turned to him with an exhausted sigh, watching him fiddle with her ukulele that had been leaning against the wall. He had an innocent look on his face that said he was gonna deny any wrong doing she accused him of. “How many times do I have to tell you that you and Cara are equally important to me? You’re both my best friends and I love you the same.”

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, and also tell Miss “last season’s wardrobe” that she needs to find some new friends cause her old best friend has moved on to bigger and better things, ergo, me.” Scott finished off his declaration with a flourish, rapidly strumming the ukulele.

Astraea rolled her eyes and turned back to the monitor, getting lost in her work. “You’re impossible.”

“Impossibly good-looking,” Scott boasted.

Astraea snorted a laugh at Scott’s retort, eyes focused on her screen, getting lost in her work. She didn’t even have to look at Scott to know that he had a wide grin on his lips. She could feel the energy of it permeating through the air, pressing down on her, almost like his smile was right up against her face-

“ASTRAEA!”

The blonde jumped, nearly falling out of her seat as Scott fell back into his chair laughing at her fear. He had apparently snuck up on her to the point that his lips were inches away from her ear. Ever since that day that they had first met and he had scared her half to death, he never failed to use her easily frightened personality against her.

“Scott! What the hell is wrong with you?” Astraea yelled, leaning on the desk of the soundboard, her head buried in her arms. She waited for her heart to slow down, listening to Scott cackle all the while, before she decided to show her face again. Scott was just swiveling back and forth in his chair, that annoyingly satisfied grin still painted on his face.

“It’s not my fault you have the same capacity for fear as a Chihuahua.”

Astraea just groaned in agitation at the truth in his words before she frustratingly scooted her chair towards her desk more, sitting with as much dignity as she could muster.

“What do you want, Scott?” Astraea grumbled, still peeved at her scare.

“It’s as I said, Miss Priss called me. She said you’ve been holed up here for nearly three days without so much as a break and she was worried about you.” Scott said simply. “God, I wish you could have been a part of that conversation. The sound of defeat in her voice at having to come to me for help was priceless.” His voice turned wistful, thinking about his supposed victory over his “rival” in Astraea’s life. “Though if you ask me, I think she should have called me sooner.”

The way Scott was talking was completely smug over what he would consider a small win against Cara, but Astraea had known him long enough to be able to detect a hint of worry in the undertone of his voice.

There was a pause in the room. The air was heavy with the weight of words left unsaid and words waiting to be said. Astraea adjusted herself in her chair, her legs clad in yoga pants were folded beneath her and her oversized blue sweatshirt was slipping off one shoulder. As she switched systems on the computer on her left, the screen went dark for a moment. In the screen, not only did she see the tangled mess of her hair in a drooping bun, she also saw Scott staring back at her. Though that split second of his face was all she needed to see for her mind to come to one conclusion…

He knew.

In the moment that the screen went black and his reflection showed along with hers, that one glimpse of his solemn face and somber eyes told her that he knew what this was all about.

It grew quiet in the room, the only sounds coming from the clicking of the mouse and the occasional shuffle of Kiera or Dundy.

Astraea never thought she would find another person and develop the same level of caring and trust in that person as she had with Cara. She thought her friendship with Cara was a once in a lifetime thing. Through all the hardships that Astraea had gone through growing up, she developed the mindset that people were not to be trusted, and for that reason she always kept her defenses up. The armor she wore, mentally and emotionally, was like a steel trap; rarely did anyone get past her barriers.

It turns out the barriers weren’t strong enough to hold back Scott.

Astraea was slowly and steadily opening up to him, and revealing parts of herself that only Cara had ever seen. He didn’t know everything about her yet, but he knew of some of the pivotal moments of her life. Even if she didn’t go into detail of her past scars, Scott understood her meaning.

“Rae…” Scott called softly to get her attention.

Her hands paused over the keyboard, her fingers slowly curling inwards, clenching into fists. A serious Scott wasn’t a common occurrence, but one of his tells was when he called her Rae. He only ever called her by her shorter nickname when he was serious.

“Rae, you and I both know what this is about, and hiding out isn’t gonna fix anything.”

She didn’t say anything, but it felt like the beat of her heart was echoing throughout the room.

Scott continued, “I’ve never been with you during this time of the year, hell I haven’t even known you a year, but I’ve learned enough to know that what’s coming up isn’t easy for you.” Scott paused for a moment, watching her breathe, her entire body as rigid as a tree. “I know it’s not easy, but I want you to know that I’m here for you and if there’s anything I can do to help you through it just please let me know.

Astraea’s eyes were focused on the blinking lights of the soundboard, her jaw clenched in an effort to hold back the emotions that were trying to break free.

Scott started to speak again, hoping to get through to this wonderful girl he’d come to care so much about. “Rae, are you ok-,”

“I hate my birthday,” Astraea interrupted. Scott fell silent, his eyes and ears riveted on the blonde. “I hate my birthday and I’m starting to think that I’ll always hate my birthday. You’d think that after 10 years of birthdays since my parent’s death that I’d be completely numb to the suffocating pain, but it’s still there humming in the back of my mind.” She drew in a breath, her glassy eyes looking somewhere far off and the tone of her voice eerily calm. “It’s easy to forget what happened throughout the year and just continue on with my life, but as the months start to turn into weeks and the weeks start to draw closer to this day, a day that’s supposed to be all about the celebration of my life, all I can think about is the death that permeates it.”

Scott was struck silent. He didn’t know what to say, all he knew was that he desperately wanted to make everything better. He wished in that moment that his mother was here for he was positive that she would know exactly what to do in this situation, and considering this situation had to do with Astraea, Lisa would try her hardest to make it right. It hadn’t taken long for Astraea to become a part of the Evans’ family. She was as much a daughter to Lisa as Carly and Shanna were, so he knew that if his mom was with them, she would be hurting right alongside Astraea, but also desperately trying to find a remedy.

Astraea suddenly turned to look at Scott, her piercing blue eyes freezing him in place, “Yes, I’m hiding out, Scott, but hiding out here on my birthday is a whole lot easier than pretending to be happy out there.”

Scott gave her a confused look, speaking softly. “Why would you have to pretend to be happy? You may have lost two people that you loved ten years ago, but since then you have gained so many people in your life who love you, myself included.”

Astraea looked at Scott, her eyes blinking wide at him. She opened her mouth to speak but no words would come out.

Scott leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and took the hand that was resting on the armrest of her chair. Her hand was curled up in a hard fist, nails barely breaking the skin of her palm. Scott gently uncurled her fingers and grasped her hand in his, smoothing the skin of her knuckles with his thumb. He looked up at her and gave her a small smile, “I know you don’t care for your birthday, but I have been looking forward to this day since I met you. The amount of support and love that you’ve shown me in my life and for my career is something that I’ll never be able to repay, but I’ll try my hardest anyway. What other day is better to celebrate my best friend than the day the she was born into this world?”

Astraea paused for a moment just looking at Scott, her eyes filling with tears she was trying to hold back. “I haven’t acknowledged let alone celebrated my birthday in ten years,” she whispered, her fingers clutching his. “I don’t know if I’m ready.”

Scott squeezed her hand back in support, “You’ll never know until you try.”

Astraea drew in a shaky breath, feeling a tear escape from her eye. She leaned forward and rested her forehead on Scott’s shoulder, just taking in his comforting presence. She closed her eyes tightly trying to reign in her emotions and the rest of the tears that were trying to break free. She felt Scott press a kiss to her hair then rest his head against hers; her hands which were encased in Scott’s larger ones received a comforting squeeze.

She took some time in Scott’s arms trying to build her courage, knowing she was about to open a door that she’d kept bolted shut for years. She was relieved that she wasn’t going to be walking through that door alone though.

Taking a deep breath, Astraea sat up, hastily wiping her eyes. She drew in another deep breath for good measure and clapped her hands upon her thighs, rocking forward a bit.

“So, what do you have in mind for my big birthday bash?” Astraea asked, laughing shakily to try and bury the fear she could feel building. Sarcasm and laughter were her two main defenses for fear; fortunately, Scott knew this and knew just how to play along.

With a wide grin Scott shoved his hand into his back pocket, “I’m glad you asked.” Just as he finished his sentence, he whipped out two small rectangular pieces of paper, “Duh duhduhduh!” he sang, “Two tickets to my brother’s new blockbuster hit, _The Avengers!”_

Astraea tried to give him a deadpanned look, but she could feel the smile cracking against her lips, “Really? You’re gonna take me to see one of your brother’s movies?”

A little while after meeting the Evans, Astraea had learned that Scott’s older brother Chris was a pretty famous actor, his most notable role being Captain America in _Captain America: The First Avenger_ , which released in theaters last year. He now had a new Marvel movie which had been released at the beginning of the month.

Though Astraea wasn’t crazy obsessed with the Marvel comic verse, she would admit that she loved the Marvel movies. She’d seen every one of them thanks to a superhero-obsessed godson. They were amazing movies though, and Chris was an exceptional actor. Apparently he’d come far from being the kid wearing the bead necklace with the goofy smile covered in braces, and that oh so fabulous bowl cut.

Despite meeting nearly every member of Scott’s family, Astraea still had yet to meet Chris: every time one of them was in Boston, the other one was gone. Scott was adamant on them meeting, but scheduling conflicts refused to allow them to be in the same place at the same time. Chris lived fulltime in LA, and when he was not in LA, he was on location filming for whatever movie project he had going on. Every time he came home to Boston though, Astraea had been out of the country for her job, meeting clients and writing music for said clients. Though they’d yet to meet in person, Astraea felt like she already knew him; she’d seen enough baby pictures.

Focusing back on Scott, she watched him shrug his shoulders, a small smile playing at his face as he looked down at the tickets.

“Yeah, well, I thought a movie would be a good first step. Nothing too big or fancy for your first birthday bash in a long while; just two best friends catching a movie together.” He leaned forward and tapped her nose with the tickets, “That and I feel guilty cause I haven’t even seen it yet.” Scott chuckled, a big ‘whoops’ look plastered on his face. “Chris has been getting on to me for weeks for not seeing it.”

Astraea felt a warmth fill her entire body at the thought that Scott put into her birthday. She was starting to feel at ease about going out. Yeah, she was still terrified, but she felt better knowing that Scott was gonna be with her, and it’s not like they were truly celebrating; no cake, no presents, no party. Just two friends catching a movie.

 _Yeah_ , Astraea thought, _I think I’ll be alright._

“Besides, how hilarious is it gonna be to see my big brother in tights,” Scott added, slumping back into his chair with a giddy look on his face. He then looked at the tickets in thought, “You know, maybe they should change the movie genre from action to comedy…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I love writing those two! Scott and Astraea's friendship gives me so many feels! (Is it wrong to fangirl over your own story and characters? Lol!)
> 
> I know, I know, I know, no Chris in this chapter, and I'm sorry if you were disappointed....but guess what happens next chapter ;D
> 
> Anywho, I hope you liked it! Please let me know what you thought about the chapter, the characters, or the story in general in the comments section!! I'd love to hear your thoughts!!
> 
> Until next time!


	7. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhhh myyyyyy godddddd. I'm so sorry for the extremely late update *looks at calendar* apparently it's been two months since I last updated. I will now hang my head in shame.
> 
> I'm so sorry everyone, it's just that life sometimes gets in the way of the things that you truly enjoy to do, and that's what it's been doing to me. I literally write every chance I get, but sometimes those chances only happen like once a week, and it's not even a very long chance to write. I've just got so many responsibilities and obligations that take preference over my writing.
> 
> I'm not giving up on this story though! I never will, even if it takes me a while to update, just know that the next chapter is in the works. I plan to see this story to the end.
> 
> Well you've been waiting for this chapter long enough, don't let me delay it any longer. I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 7**

 

**2 Years Later…**

**September, 2014**

**Boston, Massachusetts**

Rolling his suitcase behind himself, Chris made his way towards the exit, his eyes wandering the airport, searching for a familiar face among the sea of strangers. He froze mid step when his eyes locked on a short woman with golden brown hair and blue eyes identical to his own. Across the way, those eyes were also searching the area, but stopped their perusal when they caught sight of his own form. Wide identical grins spread across their faces as Chris hastily made his way over to the woman.

“Christopher! Hey, baby boy,” the woman lightly laughed in happiness as she took him into her arms, slightly rocking back and forth.

Chris laughed in joy as he squeezed his mom just a little bit tighter. God he missed her; missed all of Boston actually. It had been far too long since he’d last been home. He pressed a sloppy kiss to his mom’s cheek before he pulled away from her, keeping a tight hold of her hands.

“Hey, Ma.” He was so overjoyed to be standing with her right there. He’d only been in her presence for a few moments, but he could already feel his stress and worries melting away. This was Boston, this was home.

Despite much protest from Chris, Lisa maneuvered Chris’ backpack from his shoulder, intent on helping him with his things.

“Ma, you really don’t have to, I can carry my things myself,” Chris gently pleaded as they made their way out into the parking garage.

“Christopher, I want to; and I can’t believe you! Barely ten minutes back and you’re already arguing with me.”

“I’m not arguing with you,” Chris said defensively, “I just don’t want you to have to carry anything. You’re a lady and my mother; It's one of my jobs to make sure that you don’t do anything that I can do for you.”

Lisa lightly chuckled at her son. “While I appreciate the thought and I’m glad to know that you retained _some_ of the lesson’s I tried to teach you as a child,” she gave him a pointed look at that, “you also need to remember that, not only am I a lady, I am a woman. A little work and effort never hurt anyone.”

“I know, I know, and you’re right.” Chris conceded. He planted another kiss on his mom’s cheek as they rounded the back of the black SUV. “Thanks mom.”

Lisa smiled. “Anytime, honey.”

They loaded the car with his luggage, hopped in the vehicle, and started their trek back home. This was one of his favorite parts about coming back: the drive home. He loved cruising through this amazing city, taking in the buildings, the noise, the people, the natural smell that was just Boston.

The drive back was silent like it always was. His mother kept to herself, understanding that this was always a time where he would get lost in his own head, and no matter how much she tried to coax him into a conversation, she was never going to fully grasp his attention. That was fine though, that was Chris. Lisa would be worried if he didn’t randomly get lost in thought. She knew he was a deep thinker, and when he was done inside his head, he would come back.

A good amount of time had passed before Chris came back to the social world. They were still a little ways away from home, but it was still enough time for him to have some quality time with his mom.

“So,” Chris drawled, “how’ve things been? How’s the family? How are you? I feel like I haven’t talked to you in forever.”

“Things are good,” Lisa said, her eyes focused on the road. “The family’s great, and everything. Some things have been a little hectic though.”

Chris turned in his seat a bit, or at least as much as his seatbelt would allow, focusing his full attention on his mom. “Is everything ok?”

Lisa glanced at her son quickly, her heart warming at this moment with him. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d spent some quality time with him, just talking about their worries and lives. He was so busy with his career that just finding the time to speak on the phone was near impossible. Though the separation was hard sometimes, she was exceedingly proud of him and everything he’s been able to accomplish, and she was so happy that the career he chose was something he was passionate about. She just missed him, that’s all. Sometimes LA was just too far away for, not just one, but both of her baby boys to live there.

“Everything’s fine, Chris,” Lisa reassured. “There’s just been some things going on at work that I’ve been trying to sort out. Nothing I can’t handle though.”

“Is there anything I can do to help while I’m here?” Chris asked.

“No, sweetheart. It’s not a very big problem, and otherwise, I have Astraea helping me.”

Chris blinked. “Astraea? The ever allusive and mysterious musician that I’ve heard so much about but have yet to meet? That Astraea? It can’t be.” Chris concluded, his voice laced with a heavy amount of sass.

Lisa laughed. “You make her sound like an unattainable phenomenon.”

“Well what am I supposed to think about her? It’s been three years since she showed up in your lives, and somehow I’ve never seen her in person. Don’t you think it’s strange that it’s been so long and we haven’t even met face to face?” Chris asked, his blue eyes on his mom.

It was crazy to him. This random girl shows up and works her way into the hearts of his family, and yet they’ve never been in the same city at the same time. Every time he shows up in a city, whether it’s Boston or LA, he finds that she’s left to go off to whichever country her job requires her to visit, though the last thing he’s gonna do is criticize someone over their dedication to their work. He can understand the demands of work almost better than anyone, and he was majorly impressed when he found out what she actually did for a living. The head of her very own musical production company and she was only 28. Color him impressed. That wasn’t the only thing about her that Chris found impressive though.

Chris had learned all the “wonders” of Astraea Kingston from an overly passionate Scott about a month after his younger brother had met her. Honestly, with how Scott talked about her, if Chris wasn’t so sure that Scott was gay, he’d be wondering if there was something more going on between the two. Scott had even told him once when they had been hanging out at Chris’ apartment in LA that if Scott would turn straight for any girl, it would be for Astraea. Chris learned a whole lot about the girl’s character just from that one statement from his baby brother. It may have been a joke, but even so she must have been a pretty amazing girl for his brother to even say that.

He didn’t know why, but he just felt off when he thought about her. That didn’t make any sense to him though, because what could Chris have against her anyway? His sisters loved her, his dad loved her, his nephews and niece believed that she hung the moon, his mom adored her, and his brother obviously thought the world of her.

He didn’t hate her, and from what he had gathered from his family, she was one of a kind. While he knew a lot about her and he figured she knew a lot about him, Chris assumed that a part of him wasn’t wholly accepting to her just yet due to the fact that they were basically still strangers. Regardless of all those things, he couldn’t shake his doubts. No one could be _that_ perfect.

Hopefully his feelings would be proven wrong during his trip back home.

Lisa sighed as she kept her eyes ahead, watching as the trees threw shadows on the gravel of the winding road. “I completely agree with you that it’s bizarre that in the past three years you two have never managed to meet,” Lisa threw a teasing grin in his direction, “buuuut, I have high hopes for this time.”

Chris’ head whipped around so fast to look at his mom that he felt the muscles in his neck tick in protest. “Wait, what? What are you talking about? What’s going on? Maaaa!” Chris whined.

“She’s here,” Lisa said plainly. Chris’ eyes went so wide, that Lisa was sure they would pop right out of his sockets.

“You’re joking,” Chris accused, shock lacing his tone. “She’s here? In Boston? At this very moment?”

Lisa laughed. “Yes, she’s here in Boston right now. Trust me, I was as surprised as you are that she didn’t go anywhere. She almost did though. She had mentioned to me that she had been scheduled to travel to France this past week, but she rescheduled last minute.”

“Really? Why?” Chris asked, still slightly in shock that the girl who he had only ever heard of in conversation was finally going to be in front of his very eyes.

Lisa smiled, a loving look crossing over her features. “She said she wouldn’t miss Scott’s birthday for anything in the world, not even a meeting with a multimillion dollar client.”

“Damn,” Chris murmured. “Sooo, is she at the house right now, or…,”

“No,” Lisa said in amusement at her son’s eagerness, “she’s not at the house. She’s currently in hiding at the moment. Actually, you and I are the only ones who know that she’s here.”

Chris let his head fall back against the headrest, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion. “Ok, Ma, could you stop with all the secrecy please? I know you love being in the know about everything and that you’re really getting a kick out of messing with me, but can you please stop playing your crazy mind games?”

“Ok, ok, fine,” Lisa playfully huffed. “You take away all my fun. The secret is, while Astraea didn’t actually go on that business trip to France, no one actually knows that.” Lisa grinned and looked at him expectantly as she pulled up to a stop sign.

Chris blinked. “Okaaaay…”

Lisa sighed as she accelerated, turning down the road to the Evans’ household. “Astraea told everyone that she would be gone for two weeks, but she managed to switch her entire schedule around without anyone figuring out. She wanted to surprise Scott on his birthday; so to lessen the chances of the secret getting out, she only told me,” Lisa explained. “And now you know, so don’t tell anyone.”

Chris raised his eyebrows, “Wow, that’s really cool that she would go through all that trouble for Scott.”

Lisa smiled as she pulled into the driveway and parked the car. “Well, she really loves Scott. Those two have the most amusing yet wonderful friendship.”

“Can’t wait to see it,” Chris said with a smile.

“The only problem is that Scott has been in a mood since Astraea “left” and he won’t talk to anyone. I’m hoping you being here will pull him out of it; do you think you could try to cheer him up?”

“Yeah, I’ll do the best I can.” Chris promised as he climbed out of the SUV.

He paused after closing the door to the car and just took in the view. God, he missed this house. This place was his peace, his solace, it was one of the many constants in his life, the one place he knew he could always go back to and it would never change. It would always be there full of the people he loves and who he knows truly love him in return.

Chris was broken out of his musings when he heard the sounds of delighted shrieking. Two little figures shot out of the house and towards where he was standing by the car. He knew the two little boys had no intention of stopping, so Chris braced himself and bent down in preparation. 

“Unka Kwis!” The younger of the two shouted, his tiny legs struggling to keep up with his brother as they launched themselves into his outstretched arms. Chris laughed as he caught them, his arms keeping a tight hold of them as he spun in a circle.

“Uncle Chris, you’re home!” The older boy laughed, holding tight to his Uncle’s neck.

Chris couldn’t keep the wide smile off his face if he tried to. “Yeah, bud, I’m home.” A burst of random excitement went through him. “Ethan and Miles! God, I missed you two! How’ve you boys been?” He pressed quick kisses to both of their heads before he let them slide down his body to land on the ground.

“We’ve been great!” Ethan shouted, “I have so much to tell you!”

Miles had kept hold of Chris’ hand and was swinging himself back and forth with it. Chris had gladly taken his weight and let the three-year-old swing himself like a monkey on a vine. The sound of the door shutting brought Chris’ attention towards one more person, or at least it looked like it at first. He was surprised his cheeks hadn’t split with how wide he was smiling. His older sister Carly was making her way down the drive with a one-year-old Stella in her arms.

“Ok, that can’t be Stella.” Chris said as Carly came up to him.

“Sure is,” Carly replied, fixing Stella’s shirt around her tiny torso.

Chris lifted his hand free from Miles’ grip and gently stroked it along Stella’s arm. “Hey, baby girl,” he crooned. “God, she’s gotten so big since I last saw her.” Stella’s tiny hand gripped his finger, but she looked up at him in curiosity, probably wondering who he was.

“Yeah, bigger and faster unfortunately. She definitely knows how to keep up with her brothers.” Carly said.

“I bet,” Chris laughed. He looked up and gave his sister a small smile. “Hey, Carls.”

Carly returned his smile and leaned in to give him a hug. “Hey, baby bro.”

Chris heard movement behind him and turned to find his mother had been watching them with a content look on her face. Chris bent down and quickly tickled his nephews causing them to shriek in delight. He then leaned over and pressed a kiss to both Stella and Carly’s cheeks. Stella giggled a bit when he did so, his beard tickling her neck.

“Ok,” Chris said, clapping his hands. “Let’s get this car unloaded.”

“Yes please,” said Lisa, “I need to get dinner started.”

Ethan and Miles ran after their uncle to the trunk of the car.

“I wanna help!”

“Me twoo!” Miles cried after his brother.

Knowing his bags would be too heavy, Chris pulled his jacket out of his bag and removed his Red Sox cap from his head, handing one to each of the boys. As they ran after their grandma in excitement, Chris noticed his mom had apparently swiped his backpack again.

“I’d help you, Chris, but I got my own load in my arms,” Carly threw over her shoulder as she followed her sons into the house.

Chris just grinned and shut the trunk of the car. He picked up his bags and followed his family inside, all the while thinking about how good it was to be home.

* * *

Scott was depressed.

He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he had been this sad, but he had just reason for the way he was acting right now. His birthday was tomorrow and his best friend in the entire universe was half way around the world.

His dad and his sisters had tried their best to console him ever since Astraea had announced the dreadful news, but no words could help him. Astraea herself had even tried to reassure him that it wasn’t the end of the world and that they could celebrate all the same when she got back, but why did it feel like the end of the world anyway? His mom had been trying her hardest more than anyone to lift his spirits, but she had given up after a week. She said she couldn’t take any more of his drama apparently.

 _I’m not being dramatic_ , he thought to himself as he lay face down on his childhood bed in the pitch black darkness of his room.

Ok, he was being a little dramatic. He was incredibly bummed though! For the past three years not one birthday went by for either of them where they weren’t together, and given Astraea’s past with birthdays, they were a very big deal between the two of them. She’s come so far with the acceptance of her day of birth, that he couldn’t be anything other than proud of her. A part of him hoped that he was a reason for that growth within Astraea.

On Astraea’s birthday two years ago, Scott had made a silent promise to himself and to her that he’d never miss a birthday as long as he lived; it’s just a part of him had wished that his birthday had held the same importance to Astraea as hers did to him.

The last thing he was gonna do though was hold a grudge against her for this. He knew she was an incredibly busy person, and that people all over the world were vying for her musical genius, it’s just he depended on her too. More than he knew apparently.

Soft knocking drew him out of his thoughts, but Scott didn’t react to it. Hopefully they would go away and leave him to wallow in his sorrows. Unfortunately, he wasn’t that lucky, cause soon after, someone opened his door and flipped on the light switch.

“Go away!” Scott yelled, though it wasn’t very intimidating due to his voice being muffled by his pillow. “Leave me alone to wallow in my self-pity.”

“Now, what kind of big brother would I be if I didn’t at least come and make fun of your temper tantrum?” A deep rumbling voice teased.

Scott’s head shot up and he quickly turned his body around to see none other than his big brother.

Laughing Scott scrambled off the bed and threw his arms around Chris. “Big bro! Oh my god, it’s so good to see you!”

Chris returned the hug with fervor, his heart warming at being with his brother once more. They may live in the same city, but that didn’t mean they were always together. Work kept them apart more often than Chris liked, and while Chris loved his job, it seemed there were more cons to it than there were pros.

Pulling away from the hug, Chris gave Scott a big smile and patted him on the cheek. “It’s good to see you too, baby bro.”

Chris walked further into the room, smiling a bit at all the memories that were made here. All of them had something or another to do with Scott considering they had shared this room. It was still cluttered with all of the things they had collected over the years: ribbons, awards, action figures, movies, his old guitar in the corner, the occasional random poster on the wall (that he really needed to take down). Two desks, a dresser, a nightstand, and the wooden bunkbed in the corner made up the furniture of the room. There were some clothes haphazardly thrown about, courtesy of Scott no doubt. Old habits die hard when it came to cleanliness for the two brothers.

“You know, I don’t think this room has ever once been clean, nor will it ever actually be clean.” Chris commented.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I just kind of threw my things around when I got here.” Scott rushed to pull his clothes off the top bunk which was Chris’ bed and throw them onto his.

“It’s fine, bro, I was just joking. I’m pretty sure I was a reason for the constant mess as well.”

Scott turned his head to give Chris an accusatory look. “Are you kidding me? You _were_ the mess.”

“I was not!” Chris shot back.

“Uh, yeah you were. Just ask mom, she’ll confirm it.”

“Outrageous.” Chris said simply, shaking his head while leaning against his desk with his arms crossed. It may seem like it, but he wasn’t actually annoyed. Scott and him bickering was normal and comforting; he had honestly missed this.

While Scott continued straightening up, Chris continued his perusal. He was just looking around the room, enjoying the comforting feel of being with his bro, when something caught his eye.

One of the drawers of the dresser across the room (Scott’s drawer, he noticed) was slightly open, and peeking out of that drawer was a piece of clothing that was of a certain shape, material, and color that neither him nor Scott were known to wear. Pushing off the desk, he made his way over and pulled out the drawer, his eyebrows raising at what was inside.

“Hey… Scott?”

Scott was bent over his suitcase on the floor, his back to Chris. “Yeah?”

“Um…I don’t know if you’re trying something new – I mean, if you are that’s completely fine and I’ll love you anyways, but…is this yours?”

Curious, Scott turned his head, his body instantly freezing upon sight of what his brother was dangling off the tip of his finger.

It was a lavender colored lace bra, and Chris was standing there with a slightly confused look on his face, waiting for an explanation.

Scott hurdled off the floor and snatched the bra from his brother’s hand, hiding it behind his back, speaking quickly. “While I appreciate the promise of compassion and understanding, this isn’t mine.”

Chris hummed and looked inside the drawer again. He reached inside and pulled out a matching pair of lace panties, his fingers stretching them out for inspection. “I assume this isn’t yours either?”

“Stop- would you just- Ugh!” Scott ripped them out of Chris’ hands as well, shoving the set of underwear back inside the drawer, slamming it closed. “They’re not mine ok! And would you stop snooping through my drawers…”

“If they’re not yours, whose are they? They can’t be Carly’s or Shanna’s. Mom wouldn’t put a set of women’s underwear in here accidentally.” Chris questioned, trying to keep the grin off his face, a part of himself finding this amusing. “Look, I’m not judging you or anything, you know that I’ll always support any life decision you chose to make, I’m just wondering why you haven’t told me-,”

“THEY’RE NOT MINE, THEY’RE ASTRAEA’S!” Scott slapped his hands across his mouth, his eyes gone wide at his outburst.

The two brothers just stood in the room, staring at each other in silence.

“I am so confused,” Chris said, his wide eyes on his brother. “Mom said there was nothing going on between you too, that you were just friends, but…have your preferences started to change or something?”

“No, no, no, no, no,” Scott interjected, “just no; I like penis. I promise I am still your extremely gay younger brother. Just…no.”

“Okaaay, then…what’s this all about?” Chris tapped his knuckle against the drawer filled with women’s delicates.

Scott sighed and ran his hands through his hair, holding the back of his head. “Astraea sometimes stays the night when I’m home, and she had recently started to do it more often that I just gave her one of my drawers to put some of her things into.”

Chris raised his eyebrows, his tone of voice completely even. “She stays the night over here? Where does she sleep?”

“In…your bed…”

“Okaaay…” Chris said, not knowing what to really think about this entire situation. A girl he’s never met before has been sleeping in his bed while he’s been gone.

“Is that ok?” Scott asked, a slightly nervous look on his face.

“Yeah…I guess.” Chris replied. “I think I’m just a bit concerned with it because I’ve never met her before.” Chris shrugged his shoulders a bit, going back over to the desk and leaning against it. “Since we’re on the subject of her, she’s actually who I came to talk to you about. Mom said you were sad that she was gone?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Scott groaned, collapsing face first on his bed.

Chris stifled a snort, trying to hide his amusement over his brother’s theatrics. He walked over towards the bunk and sat himself down by Scott’s feet. A part of him really wanted to tell Scott the good news that his friend wasn’t as far away as he believed her to be, but years of working with Marvel put a stop to any urge he had to spill the beans. You had to really know how to keep a secret when you worked in the movie making business, especially with a company like Marvel who had secret snipers just waiting for you to say the wrong thing (or so he believed). Another thing that stopped him from talking was his mother. She would kill him if she found out he told Scott; his mother in a rage was an even more scary thought than a man with a sniper rifle waiting in the shadows.

“You know, I’m a bit offended that you don’t think my presence is enough of a joy for you to have on your birthday,” Chris joked, hoping to cheer his baby brother up.

Scott turned his head towards Chris, his eyes looking up at him as best they could. “No, hey I’m sorry. I’m really glad you’re here. It’s just, I can’t really explain why her absence is affecting me as much as it is.” Scott’s eyes took on a far off look. “You’d just have to meet her to fully understand.”

Not really knowing what to say after that, Chris let the conversation go, instead choosing to sit in comfortable silence with Scott. Within a few seconds though, the silence was subsequently broken by a knock on the door.

“Come in,” both brothers yelled at the same time.

“Wow, I just had like crazy déjà vu,” a figure said, opening the door. A wide smile grew across the figure’s face when she caught site of who was all inside the room.

“Shanna!” Chris shouted, a wide happy smile on his face.

“Hey, Chris! Long time no see.”

The siblings wasted no time falling into a hug, Shanna laughing in amusement when Chris went on to squeeze her a little bit tighter than one normally would in a hug. He couldn’t help it though, he missed his baby sister.

“Chris, I can’t breathe,” gasped Shanna through the crease of Chris’ shoulder and neck.

“Maybe it’s better that way.” Scott cut in, his body still limp on the bed.

“Hey!” Shanna yelled, releasing herself from Chris’ hold. “You’re such an asshole, Scott!” Shanna proceeded to grab a pillow and whack Scott repeatedly across whatever body part she could reach while Scott screeched in reply, trying to shield himself from her blows.

Chris couldn’t contain the laughter within him, his eyes watering from the display.

“What is going on here?”

Chris turned to see that Carly had arrived, looking on at the scene with a nostalgic look on her face. She looked at Chris and chuckled. “Some things never change.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's finally arrived!! No meeting between him and Astraea yet, but at least I've finally gotten Chris into the story! 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'd love to know your thoughts on the chapter, characters, or story in general, so don't be afraid to leave a comment!! 
> 
> Until next time! (hopefully next time isn't so long, lol)


	8. Meet and Awkward Greet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not just literally trash, I'm also literary trash (haha. Play on words). I could probably apologize to ya'll a billion times, but the reason is one that we all struggle with... life. 
> 
> Seriously, college got crazy, my job got crazy, my mental state went out of whack; but through it all I continued to write this chapter as much as I could every chance I got (which was basically only quiet times at work). I had to like reevaluate my entire life cause my stress levels went through the roof.
> 
> All I can say is, I'm sorry it took so long. Writing is not only a stress reliever, as it takes my mind off the real world, but it's also a passion. Writing this story is as much a joy for me as I hope it is for you to read it.
> 
> As always I'd like to thank my beta holsvick for the amazing work that she does!! You're the best!!
> 
> Now, I'll stop talking and let ya'll get to this long awaited for chapter (like super long awaited for. Like almost four months *dead*. I'm just trash ya'll). To go along with my apology, here's a super duper long chapter to help dull the ache of my trashiness.
> 
> Enjoy!!

Astraea was so excited. It was her best friend’s 31st birthday and he had no idea of the surprise she had in store for him. It was basically universal knowledge that birthdays were a gigantic deal between the two, and Astraea knew that what she did would result in the most monumental reaction from Scott. She felt a little bad though, knowing what she was putting Scott through, for she would feel the exact same way. If Scott ever forgot her birthday, or couldn’t be with her on that special day for any reason, she was positive that her heart would rip in half. Hopefully Scott wouldn’t be too irked at her; and she hoped that the joy of the surprise made up for the deception.

Lisa had messaged her that she had managed to get everyone out of the house for a while, so it was safe to make her way over in preparation for the party. Knowing that Scott would be able to recognize her car from a mile away, Astraea had Cara drop her off at the Evans’ residence.

She waved bye to Cara as her best girlfriend drove away, then she took off towards the front door, being careful not to drop the homemade cake she had made for the birthday boy. Letting herself in the house, Astraea made her way to the kitchen where she found Lisa preparing Scott’s birthday dinner.

It was one of his favorite meals, first made by Astraea herself: Chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, and fresh green beans with bits of bacon thrown in. It was the first meal that Astraea had ever made for him and he begged her to make it every time he came home. Lisa had told her she was going to try to make it the same way she did in the hopes that it would help Scott feel better about her “absence”.

“Hey, Lisa,” Astraea greeted as she walked into the kitchen, being careful with the cake in her arms.

Turning at the sound of the blonde’s voice, Lisa smiled at the sight of the young musician. “Astraea! Hi, sweetheart.”

Astraea carefully set the container holding the round cake onto the kitchen table before walking around the breakfast bar towards Lisa. She placed a kiss onto Lisa’s cheek which the woman immediately returned, being careful to continue stirring the simmering gravy.

“Are you excited?” The older woman asked, a smile on her lips

“Beyond excited. I can’t wait to see the look on his face; he has no idea what’s coming.” The anticipation within Astraea was almost too hard to handle, it was bubbling over and displaying her emotions clearly on her face.

Lisa laughed lightly, the girl’s excitement contagious. “I’m excited to see his face too. This was really a wonderful idea for a birthday surprise.”

Astraea leaned against the counter next to the stove where Lisa was working. “I just hope he doesn’t make me suffer too much for doing this to him though. How is he?”

Lisa snorted, shaking her head at the thought of her youngest son. “How do you think he is?”

“Drama queen?”

“Drama queen,” Lisa confirmed. The two women chuckled at the thought of Scott’s theatrics.

 _He’s definitely in the right line of work_ , Astraea thought.

Turning down the flame under the gravy, Lisa wiped her hands on her apron. “Ok, well I’m gonna go freshen up in my room; everyone should be back in a little bit. I put the gravy and beans on simmer, and everything else is sitting in the warmer drawer.”

“Ok,” Astraea said. “What do you want me to do with the cake?”

“You can put it in the fridge out in the garage so Scott won’t accidentally happen upon it before dinner. You know how he is when it comes to sweets.”

Astraea laughed and voiced her agreement, then set out to do just that. She made her way into the garage, and passed the cars towards the freezer, being careful of the container in her arms.

* * *

Chris shut the front door of the house behind him, grunting in slight frustration as he slipped his shoes off. He had gone to the park by the house with his siblings, nephews, and niece, just to spend time with them and be together. His mom had suggested it to all of them as a way to pass the time before dinner while she was getting it ready. They had all offered to stay and help her, but she was adamant that they go and enjoy each other’s company. It wasn’t difficult to go though, for it was exceedingly rare that they were all together in the same place at once and the park was one place that held many memories of those rare moments.

They were having so much fun: Carly and Shanna were at the swing set, pushing Stella while they talked, and Scott and Chris were chasing the boys around the grassy area nearby. Unfortunately for Chris, Miles had unknowingly managed to lead him away a bit towards a spot with a sprinkler which just so happened to go off right as he came up to it. While Miles managed to dodge the water, Chris wasn’t as lucky.

With the park being only a block away, there was no need to take a car, so Chris had walked back by himself after Carly promised that they’d be back at the house in a little while. She wanted the kids to expend as much energy as possible before they went back home in the hopes that they’d tire themselves out really well for bedtime. Chris just shook his head in amusement thinking about it; it always took a miracle to get those three calmed down.

So here he was, soaking wet in a white t-shirt and basketball shorts, feeling like he just got back from a wet t-shirt contest. Shaking out his shirt a bit, he attempted to unstick it from his chest and abdomen while he carefully padded his way upstairs and into his room to change, trying not to leave a trail of water in his wake.

Drying off with a towel he grabbed from the bathroom and quickly throwing on a pair of jeans and a blue Henley, Chris made his way back downstairs to throw his wet clothes in the laundry room. He stopped in the kitchen though when his nose caught the wonderful aroma of his mom’s cooking. He inspected the food, looking in the oven and lifting the lids off the pots on the stove to better take in all the different smells. His stomach growled in anticipation at the thought of being able to eat a home cooked meal after so long.

He had just thrown his clothes in the laundry room and was about to walk away, when he suddenly heard thumping coming from the garage. He turned his head and looked at the garage door for a moment, waiting to make sure it hadn’t been his imagination.

_Thump, thump._

There it was again; he was starting to feel some concern stirring in his belly. He knew it wasn’t his siblings, for he would have heard the ruckus they would have made had they come home and it hadn’t even been that long since he’d left the park, and he knew it wasn’t his mom because he had heard her humming in her bedroom as he walked by it.

Walking towards the door, he quietly eased it open, peering through the crack as it opened wider. He slowly made his way out the door, his eyes roaming the garage. Immediately, his eyes honed in on the source of the noise which was coming from the opposite side of the garage, parallel to the door he had just come through.

The door to the fridge was open, but the figure digging through it was completely blocked from his view. Scattered on the ground around the freezer were frozen foods of all kind, and sitting on the hood of Carly’s minivan was a covered glass pan.

He didn’t know what was going on, or who was rummaging through his freezer, but he was past mildly concerned.

Quietly making his way over to the freezer, he randomly picked up a small wooden bat that he believed belonged to Ethan. The person continued to rummage through the refrigerator, completely unaware of his presence as his steps brought him closer and closer to the mystery person.

Reaching the freezer, he gently grasped the door and opened it a bit wider, revealing the figure on the other side. What he found was not what he expected.

It was a woman; a short, blonde woman to be exact. Albeit, she was hunched over inside the fridge digging around and doing what looked to be reorganizing the chaos of the machine, but he could tell that if she stood up straight the top of her head would barely graze his chin.

He probably should have thought this situation through a bit more, because what happened next was completely unexpected and totally out of his control.

The movement of the fridge door that he caused had apparently attracted the girl’s attention, and when she glanced in mild curiosity in the direction of the door, it caused a full blown panic attack once she caught sight of him in her peripherals.

Turning quickly, the girl gasped in fear upon sight of him, obviously unaware of his presence.

“Holy shit-,” She made to quickly move back but ended up tripping and falling backwards into the open freezer, the back of her head slamming into one of the shelves.

He understood why she reacted the way she did though. Here he was, an unknown buff guy who was a whole head taller, standing behind her and holding a bat; he’d probably freak out too.

Chris instinctively reached out to help her once he saw that she had hurt herself. “Oh crap, are you ok?” He was a bit hesitant in his movements though, considering he had no idea who this girl was.

Groaning, the girl slowly righted herself, her eyes shut from the pain and one of her hands pressed to the back of her skull. “God, why does this always happen to me?” She accepted the frozen bag of peas that Chris had taken from one of the shelves and held out to her. She pressed it against the back of her head, slightly hissing from the contact.

“I’m sorry,” Chris said. “I probably shouldn't have snuck up on you like that.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s not you,” the girl chuckled before she groaned in pain, her eyes squeezing shut. “I unfortunately have an affinity for hurting myself at the most inopportune times.”

The girl slowly opened her eyes and lifted them towards his face and two separate sets of blue crossed paths for the first time.

Chris was struck silent for a second. This girl had the most captivating eyes he had ever seen. They were like a swirl of ice blue with flecks of silver in them. Her eyes reminded him of a gentle snowfall in the midst of a calm Boston winter. They reminded him of home…

The girl cleared her throat bringing him out of his thoughts. Realizing he had been staring at her, he shifted a bit in embarrassment, twiddling the bat between his fingers.

The blonde glanced down at the movement then looked back up at him, her lips twitching in amusement. “You plan on using that?”

Chris looked down at the bat then up at her, watching her try to hide a smile. “Uh no, no, I had no plans whatsoever to use this thing; I don’t even know how it got here.” He tossed the bat quickly to the side not watching where he threw it, and they both cringed at a resounding crash, listening to things clutter to the floor.

Chris closed his eyes and slightly grimaced. He heard a loud snort and opened his eyes to see that the blonde had her hand over her mouth, trying desperately to hold back her laughter.

“I’m sorry,” the girl said, trying to talk around her suppressed giggles. “That was one hundred percent not funny.” She snorted again, “not funny at all.”

She suddenly winced in pain again, readjusting her grip on the bag of frozen peas. “Ok, I don’t think laughing is the best thing to do right now.” She looked up at him, her face turning completely serious. “Not that I was laughing at you, which I totally wasn’t.”

Chris raised his eyebrows, “Uh huh… and can I ask the name of the person who’s _not_ laughing at me and reorganizing my fridge?”

“Wait…your fridge?” She asked confused. She studied him for a second before Chris noticed a flash of recognition go through her eyes. “Oh my God, you’re…,”

“Chris? What’s going on? I heard a loud crash, is everything ok? And why is the door open?” Lisa stepped down into the garage, her eyes grazing over the situation. She immediately rushed forward once she caught sight of the girl, pushing past Chris in the process.

“Wait, Ma, what are you doin’?”

 “Oh, sweetheart, are you ok? What happened?” Lisa removed the bag of peas from behind the girl’s head to take a look at her skull, feeling for any bumps. She turned her eyes to Chris, “How did this happen?”

“Well,” Chris started, rubbing the back of his head, his voice going up an octave. “I kind of snuck up behind her while holding a bat and I ended up startling her which caused her to fall back and hit her head against the shelf in the fridge.”

“Chris!” Lisa gasped in shock.

“What?” He retorted. “I didn’t mean to!”

“Why were you holding a bat? And what’s with all that mess over there?” Lisa asked her son accusingly, gesturing towards the clutter in the corner.

“It was for…protection…,” Chris said sheepishly. “And I tossed the bat in a random direction which caused…the mess.”

Lisa wanted to roll her eyes at the tossing of the bat, but she had an intense urge to laugh when he said the bat was for his protection. She looked over at Astraea’s 5 feet and 3-inch height to Chris’ 6-inch frame (not to mention his muscle mass) and looked back up at Chris, her face showing her held back amusement.

Chris wanted to crawl into a hole from embarrassment just then, his reasoning for everything sounding ridiculous even to his own ears.

“Your…protection…,” Lisa repeated, looking over at Astraea and locking eyes with the girl. They were both thinking the exact same thing, and desperately trying to hide their laughter.

Lisa managed to stop her lips from expanding into a grin, and secured the blonde’s hold on the frozen vegetables against the back of her head. “Astraea, I am so sorry for my son’s deplorable manners.” She gave Chris a disapproving look to hide her mirth, not wanting to embarrass her son further. “Christopher Robert.”

“It’s ok, Lisa, it was an accident.” The blonde looked at Chris, her pink lips slightly quirked, “We were actually just about to introduce ourselves.”

A look of understanding dawned on Chris’ face when his mother said the girl’s name. He had a flash of a memory of Scott showing him a picture almost a year ago of a woman with blonde hair and ice blue eyes. He couldn’t believe it; he felt like such an idiot, this was…

“Astraea Kingston,” the girl held out her hand with an amused smile on her face, having noticed the realization of who she was cross his features.

Chris gently took her hand in his, shock displayed all over his face.

This was the girl. The girl who had wiggled her way into the hearts of his family and had learned the innermost dynamics of his home. The girl who had unintentionally managed to evade him at every turn for the past two years, and whom he had only heard about in conversation from his siblings and parents, always feeling left out when the stories and memories turned to moments involving this short, blonde, blue-eyed beauty.

Yes, she was most certainly beautiful, he wasn’t about to deny that. He’d already seen the wonder that was her eyes, but he couldn’t help but notice how her hair looked like spun gold when it caught the light of the sun outside which was shining through the garage windows. His eyes quickly and subtly took in the rest of her, noting that her small frame was decorated in black leggings covered by a black and white striped ruched tunic; the long sleeved, form fitting top hugged her curves right until her mid-thigh. Her black leggings disappeared inside a pair of flat knee high brown boots which no doubt encased a pair of tiny, delicate feet.

He felt a quick jab in his side and winced, looking down to see his mom giving him a look. Realizing that he was holding onto the girl’s hand far longer than was socially deemed acceptable, he went to release it. Before he completely let go though, he couldn’t help but notice how her hand fit into his; it was smaller, her palm smooth against his skin, but her fingertips were a bit rough with calluses. She was a professional musician from what he had been told about her, so he wasn’t too surprised. The calluses showed she was dedicated to her craft, which was something he could admire.

Chris noticed that his Ma had an amused look on her face which made him shuffle lightly, sticking his hands in his back pockets, though he felt a slight tingle in his palm from the warmth of the blonde’s touch.

“Are you gonna be ok, sweetheart?” Lisa addressed Astraea, her eyes giving the girl a once over to make sure she was completely unharmed.

“Yeah, I think I’ll be ok. Besides, it’s not the first time I’ve sustained an injury from a male member in the Evan’s family, and it probably won’t be the last.” Astraea looked over at Chris, her eyes filled with mirth.

She turned and placed the bag of frozen vegetables back in the freezer door, then picked the rest of the frozen goods up and put them away before stepping in Chris’ direction.

Chris had been wondering what she meant by her being hurt before by an Evans before he noticed her coming towards him.

“Um…” His heart jumped for reasons he didn’t know when she came almost up against him. He noticed a small smirk cross her lips, obviously noticing his discomfort, before she sidestepped him and grabbed the cake off the hood of the SUV.

“Excuse me.” She sang, and turned to place the cake into the fridge.

All Chris could do was blink as she twirled away from him. The motion of her body had sent her hair whipping in his direction, emitting a scent he could only describe as heavenly. She smelt like gardenias with a hint of something else he couldn’t place, but whatever it was, it was delightful.

“Ok,” Astraea said. “That’s that.”

Lisa smiled at her and softly shut the fridge door. “Come on, you two. You can help me finish preparing for dinner while we wait for the others to get back.”

“Okie dokie,” Astraea said playfully.

“Sounds like a plan,” Chris added, his lips quirking at the blonde’s cheerful antics. He watched as she bounded ahead of him, catching up to his mother who had already started for the kitchen. He stayed behind the two women, his mind flying a mile a minute; his eyes were locked on her figure, his head filled with nothing but curiosity for the musician. He so desperately wanted to know this girl like his family did, but he didn’t know how to ask the questions, a part of him too nervous to even start.

They walked inside the house and into the kitchen, his mom immediately going to the stove to check on the food.

Chris and Astraea gravitated towards the opposite ends of the kitchen from each other, an awkward air floating between them. While Astraea was looking at everything but him, Chris couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He noticed that while her eyes were darting around the room, her hands wouldn’t stop fidgeting. The delicate digits, interlocking and twisting around each other, her fingers often twitching in a soundless beat. His eyes roved south and he noticed that her foot was tapping to the same beat as her fingers. He rubbed at his beard and wondered if that was a nervous tick she had. He was broken out of his study of the blonde when his mother set her stirrer down with a force that a calm person normally wouldn’t have.

Lisa quickly turned and caught the eyes of the two adults in the room. At least she thought they were adults, because by the way they were acting now, one would assume that they were nothing but a couple of bashful teenagers. The silence in the room was bordering on suffocating, and Lisa just about had enough.

“Ok, you two, follow me.” Lisa marched out of the kitchen and towards the front of the house where the dining room was. “I think it’s about time you two made yourself useful.”

The actor and the musician glanced at each other before following the older woman.

Lisa went straight to the China cabinet and opened the glass doors. Reaching inside, she grabbed a stack of plates from one of the shelves, and from within a drawer she pulled out a crisp white tablecloth with a beautiful floral design stitched with white lace. Opening another drawer, she pulled out a bundle of napkins.

Setting the items on the table, she locked eyes with her son and Astraea. They were standing next to each other, both of them stiff and awkward as they looked back at her, waiting for her to give orders. Lisa found the situation between the two quite comical, and she would have laughed if she didn’t know that it wouldn’t help at all. She knew what the problem was between the two; she could read them both like an open book.

Chris was achingly curious about Astraea, but was too nervous to even know where to begin. Lisa knew that Chris was aware of who she was; he knew she was a smart and successful woman, and a part of him was afraid of slipping up and saying something stupid, thus looking like an idiot in front of the girl. She was also sure of the fact that Astraea being such a stunning beauty didn’t help Chris at all. He turned into a typical bumbling teenage boy when it came to a pretty girl. It was cute in a way.

When it came to Astraea though, the reasons were twisted exponentially and they went deeper than anyone would know. Family was everything to Astraea, and Lisa knew that her own family had become a crucial and influential part of the musician’s life. That was no problem to Lisa though. She was more than happy to open up her home and her arms to the wonderful girl standing in front of her. She had learned so much about Astraea over the past couple of years and understood that the young woman had been through an unfortunate amount of loss and pain in her life, especially during her childhood. Astraea has experienced a certain type of anguish at an age where the word anguish shouldn’t have even been a part of her vocabulary.

Lisa understood all this about Astraea, and wanted nothing more than to help fill the void of loss that Astraea carried around in her heart. She knew she couldn’t though; as much as she wanted to, she would never be able to fix the parts of Astraea that had been broken. What she could do though, was love her; and she would love her until she wasn’t able to love anymore. No matter what happened, Astraea would always have a place in her home.

This importance of family though, was where Astraea’s fear lay. She didn’t want to lose them. Every family that she’d ever had was either taken from her, or abandoned her, and a tiny part of Astraea had always blamed herself for both.

That was what she was afraid of.

She went through this fear with every member of the Evans family that she met, aside from Scott and Lisa, and Chris is the last person she believed she had to prove herself to. Every meeting was a test for Astraea, a test to prove herself and show that she was worthy of their time, love, and devotion, and as much as Lisa tried to pull her from that mindset, she’d come to realize that it was of no use. This was how Astraea’s brain had been wired from the years of hurt and abandonment, along with working in an industry that would drop you like a hat the moment you showed even a smidge of failure.

So while Chris was just nervous, this was a test for Astraea, and Lisa would do anything to reassure her that it was a test she couldn’t fail. She knew her son; Chris wanted to be just as important to Astraea as the rest of the family was to her.

Looking at the two, Lisa gently touched the items on the table. “Now, I want you to set the table, and when you’re done, come back into the kitchen and bring the food in here as well. The crystal glasses are on the right in the cabinet, and I want you to use the good silverware. You know? The ones we use for special occasions?” Lisa started to head towards the doorway, giving them one last glance. “If you need anything, I’ll be in the kitchen.”

Astraea’s eyes watched the swinging door gently rock from the motion of Lisa walking through, her mind counting every swing until the moment the door became completely still. Aware of the other body in the room, Astraea turned her head to find Chris watching her. He looked like he was caught unaware, but he gave her a small smile which she returned.

Not wanting to resort to her awkward fidgeting and wanting to put her hands to work, Astraea rounded the table to the side that Lisa had been standing on. Her fingers lightly drummed on the table as she looked at the figure standing across from her. “Soooo…let’s get started…”

Startled out of his train of thought from watching the blonde so intently, Chris let out a whoosh of air and knocked his knuckles on the table. “Yeah, yeah, definitely. Um…I guess the obvious thing would be to start with the tablecloth.” He reached across the table and grasped the cloth with his hands, shaking it out to unfold it. Attempting to start a conversation, he blurted the first thing that came into his head. “You know, I never understood why these things were necessary.”

Astraea picked up the stack of plates and napkins and turned to set them on the shelf of the cabinet so they could lay out the tablecloth, giving him a look and snorting in amusement as she did.

Chris stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “What? What’s so funny?”

Astraea turned back to the table and grabbed the edges of the tablecloth, “Oh, it’s just this exact same topic came up between Scott and me while we were setting the table once. It’s just funny that you would bring it up as well.”

Chris gave her a closed lip smile, his eyes crinkling in the corners. “Yeah, well, we’re brothers. You’re not gonna find much that’s different about us.” They both lifted the cloth and shook it out over the table, letting it open up completely and fall to rest on the wood. Chris adjusted his end of the cloth, while Astraea adjusted the other, making sure that it lay out evenly over the entire table. “Do you know the reasons for the tablecloths though?”

Astraea reached over and grabbed the plates, handing half of them to Chris. “Yeah, they’re used to prevent scratches on the table and to help prevent spills from staining the surface. It also just makes the setting look classier.”

“Oh, well that makes sense.” Chris said, setting the plates around the table. He finished setting down his half and accepted the pile of napkins that Astraea handed him.

Once the napkins were set, Chris went back to the cabinet and pulled out the drawers in his search for the silverware his mom had requested. He was entirely focused on his search when he noticed it had gotten rather quiet. He looked behind him to see that Astraea had a small grin on her face, her entire demeanor seeming distracted as she adjusted the plates on the table.

“Do you find something amusing about tablecloths?” Chris joked.

“Huh?” Astraea quickly looked up. “Oh, sorry. I was just thinking of something funny.”

“You mind sharing? I’m always up for a laugh.” Chris replied, a small smile on his face. He was really trying to get to a point of comfort between them. It seemed there was still some hesitance and tension between the two. From what? He couldn’t say.

Astraea fiddled with the lacy material, her lips quirking in a smirk as she looked up at him. “Well, it’s a bit crude and inappropriate.”

Chris laughed, “Honey, what you’ll learn about me is that I am all kinds of inappropriate. Don’t tell my mom though.” He winked.

Astraea smiled at him and laughed a little. She walked back over to the cabinet next to Chris and looked inside the drawers. She glanced at him quickly and tucked her hair behind her ears, clearing her throat before she spoke. “Well, when Scott brought up the question and we did the research on it, there were two different reasons for tablecloths: the legitimate reason that I just told you, and the myth.”

“The myth?” Chris chuckled.

“Yeah, the myth.” Astraea confirmed. “Apparently, another reason for tablecloths being used is that, in the Victorian era, table legs resembled the legs of a woman which would cause, in a more delicate term a certain… _arousal_ in men. It’s said tablecloths were then invented to hide the legs of tables so that men wouldn’t…um…yeah…” Astraea trailed off, looking everywhere but at Chris, the pale skin of her cheeks turning rosy from the blush that formed.

She wasn’t one to normally shy away from the more crude aspect of things. She could be plenty inappropriate when the situation called for it, heck it’s who she was, but when meeting someone new she always held back, never wanting to insult the person and go too far with a joke if it was something they weren’t comfortable with. She understood that not everyone was the same, and every person she met wouldn’t have the same sense of humor as she did; apparently that wasn’t something she needed to worry about with Chris.

He threw his head back in laughter, his right hand pressed against his chest as his body shook from amusement.

Astraea watched as Chris fell into his laughter, his whole body shaking from the force of it. Astraea found that she couldn’t help but smile herself as she watched him lose himself in his joy. She liked his laugh. He seemed the type of person that, when he was happy, you couldn’t help but be happy with him. He reminded her of Scott.

Astraea ripped her eyes from his form as his laughter fell into small chuckles, his blue eyes twinkling at her. She distracted herself from his gaze by opening the drawers of the cabinet and searching for the silverware set that Lisa requested.

“Here they are,” Chris said as he reached into the drawer to gather up the assortment of knives, forks, and spoons they would need.

“Wait, those aren’t the right ones.”

Chris stopped what he was doing to give Astraea a look, before analyzing the small set he was holding in his hands. “Um, yeah they are.”

Astraea bit the inside of her lip, desperately trying to tread lightly. “No, I promise.” She reached down and grabbed a couple of pieces from a set on the right. “This is the set you’re looking for. Your mom has two sets that she uses for two separate occasions. There’s the French set with the floral engraving, and the pure silver set with the monogrammed _E_ on the handle,” she said, gesturing to the set he was holding.

Chris looked down and saw the engraved _E_ she was talking about on the handle of one of the knives encased in his palm.

“The French set is used for the formal yet informal occasions, which is basically birthdays, while the engraved set is used for the _formal_ occasions like holidays or really special celebrations.”

Chris’ eyes flipped from her, to the set in his hands, to the set in her hands, while remembering those occasions and realized that she was right. “Wow, you really do know the inner mechanisms of my family well.” He placed the set back into their spots in the drawer.

Astraea smiled and shrugged, busying herself with gathering the rest of the utensils. “Well, you could say that I’ve had a lot of chances to learn. Here you go.” She handed half of what they needed to Chris and shut the drawer, turning to place the utensils down.

They worked quietly, the silence comfortable yet bordering on uncomfortable. Unbeknownst to one another, both actor and musician were trying to find a topic of conversation. Small glances were snuck by Chris through the whole setting, his curiosity killing him. He had so much he wanted to ask and so much he wanted to talk about but he didn’t know how to start. Apparently, he didn’t need to start anything though as Astraea started speaking.

“So, word on the street is you’re an actor.”

“Yeah, yeah I am. Just a small actor though; I’ve only ever landed roles in B rated movies. Nothing you’ve probably seen.” Chris casually said with a joking undertone.

Catching onto what he was doing, Astraea hid a grin and played along. “Well, sorry but I’d never heard of you until Scott mentioned you. Don’t worry though, I’m sure with some dedication and a _lot_ of hard work, you’ll make it big one day.

“That’s the dream.” Chris smiled, continuing their playful banter.

As the conversation ended, they had finished setting the table. The plates were set, and the silverware was sitting polished in their places. Astraea had grabbed the glasses out of the cabinet and went to set one above each plate, while Chris rounded the table back towards the cabinet. Their paths ended up crossing and they awkwardly tried to side step one another in the narrow space, but they only managed to get in each other’s way even more. Chris eventually stepped to the side and held out his arm with a flourish, offering her the room to get by him. She just gave him a shy smile in thanks and squeezed by.

They had managed to start a small conversation as they worked together, nothing too intrusive or prying, just basic questions about their jobs and the demands of them. Chris mentioned that he just finished filming the second installment of his Captain America movies, titled _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_. He was extremely excited about it and said it had to be his best Marvel movie yet.

As they continued to talk, they had ended up seated at the table next to each other. They were completely engrossed in their conversation, all memory of any awkwardness between them gone.

“So you’re proud of the outcome?” Astraea asked, referring to the movie. She was sitting sideways on her chair facing Chris, her elbow on the table and her head leaning on her hand.

Chris just nodded his head in confirmation, his body also facing Astraea. He had one arm on the table, and the other on the back of his own chair. “Yeah, I’m incredibly proud of it, more so than any of my other movies. Trust me, all you have to do is take a quick look at my imdb page to understand why.” He said with a laugh.

“Hey, don’t be too hard on yourself.” Astraea gently said as she straightened herself up in her chair. “I’ve seen some of your other movies outside of the Marvel Universe and I have to say, you have plenty to be proud of.”

Chris quirked his lips, his blue eyes studying her. “You’ve seen some of my other movies?”

Astraea giggled and nodded her head. “Well, yeah. There’s really no choice in the matter when you have a little brother who’s incredibly proud of you.”

Chris smiled. “Ah, Scott. What am I gonna do with him? Knowing him though, he had to have shown you the more embarrassing projects that I’ve done.”

“Nooooo, of course not,” Astraea scoffed playfully. “He did no such thing. Along with your Marvel movies, we’ve seen _What’s Your Number_ , _Playing It Cool_ , _and Snowpiercer_ , which was amazing by the way.”

“Ugh, you got a glimpse of _What’s Your Number_?” Chris lightly groaned and ran his hand over his scalp, peeking up at Astraea from beneath his long lashes, his cheeks tinted with the slightest bit of red.

“Oh, I caught more than just a glimpse.” Astraea let out a giggle. “I almost saw the whole thing; as did the whole world.”

Chris laughed at her innuendo. “Oh my god, this is what I’m talking about. The movie was fun to work on, but some of the things I did had me questioning my morals.”

“Oh, I don’t think you should worry about anything in that movie,” Astraea said slowly. “I mean, nothing in there can be as bad as, I don’t know, sticking a banana up your ass. Am I right?”

Astraea watched as the color drained from Chris’ face, her chest hurting from the pressure of holding back her laughter.

Chris dropped his head into his hand and groaned in embarrassment. “Oh God. I take it you’ve seen _Not Another Teen Movie_?”

“Unfortunately for you, yes.” Astraea felt she was being a bit cruel teasing him like this, but it was just too much fun. “I feel I really got to know you on a personal level after watching that movie. You really learn a lot about a person after watching them model whip cream and some fruit on their private regions.”

“I hate my life.” Chris groaned.

“Hey, don’t be like that.” Astraea squeezed his shoulder in mock comfort. “There’s still so many different fruits that you haven’t tried to squeeze in between your butt cheeks.”

Chris raised his head and looked up at her with a disbelieving smile. “You are enjoying this way too much.”

Astraea shrugged her shoulders, raising her hand and holding her thumb and forefinger just a hairs width apart, giggling all the while. “Just a little.”

Chris couldn’t help but join in her amusement, his chuckles blending in with the tinkling bells of her laughter. Eventually their laughter died down and they fell into a comfortable silence.

Chris looked up at Astraea and locked eyes with her, giving her a kind smile. The smile she returned gave her a beautiful glow, her eyes sparkling in mirth.

“So… is this as weird to you as it is to me?” Chris asked, elbows on his knees, his eyes searching her face through his lashes.

“What do you mean?” Astraea asked him, her face turning slightly puzzled from the question.

“Like, I feel like I know you, but I don’t know you, you know?”

“Oh, yeah definitely.” Astraea agreed, her golden curls swishing back and forth as she nodded her head. “From all the stories I’ve been told about you, I’m pretty sure I have some quality dirt on you should I ever need to get back at you for something.”

“Wait, what?” Chris gasped. “Who said anything about dirt? I was just talking about in general with how much my family talks about you.” His eyes went wide when he saw a grin slide onto Astraea’s face.

“Oh, of course, I was just talking about in general as well.” Astraea quickly said, her eyes twinkling in amusement. “I was just joking about the dirt thing.” She turned her head towards the doorway like she had just heard her name being called. “Coming, Lisa!” She yelled. Turning back to Chris, she patted him on the knee and gave him a bright smile. “Sorry, Chris, your mom is calling me. This was a good talk; we should do it again sometime.”

Astraea jumped up and skipped through the doorway into the kitchen as Chris called after her. “Wait, what dirt?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it took four months in our world, but it finally happened. CHRIS AND ASTRAEA ARE FINALLY BREATHING THE SAME AIR!!! I was so happy when these words finally got put onto page.
> 
> I hope ya'll are satisfied with how they met and that the wait was worth it! Let me know what you thought of the chapter: what your favorite part was, what you think about the characters, anything at all!! I'd love to hear your thoughts!!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! Love ya'll!! (and hopefully the next chapter gets posted faster than this one lol).


	9. Birthdays, Surprises, and Cake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Sings* I'm the worrrrssssttt!! *End Song*. 
> 
> So yeah... it's been about seven months, hope everyone's been well. 
> 
> My life has been a rollercoaster of emotions, that I won't go into too much detail on, but just to give you some insight cause I feel like I owe it to you, school got crazy, work got unbearable, people at my job made my life a living hell, I completely lost my mojo for this story, got hit with major writers block, then summer came and I got into a near battle with my almost new college. June and July were a stressful two months for me. Taking two summer classes didn't help either. My mom ended up leaving near the end of summer, and I transitioned to a new and waaaaayyyy better job. Then all was going semi well until Hurricane Harvey decided to come and flood my city (I live in Houston). I was ok though. Almost got flooded, but it didn't get into the house; I was one of the blessed ones. Funnily enough, since Harvey put everything on hold with all the businesses and schools being shut down, I actually had time to sit down and write. So, to Hurricane Harvey, you suck, but this chapter is dedicated to you.
> 
> I guess I lied and went into way more detail than I said I was going to. Anyway, I'm sorry for the delay, and I hope that I can be better about pumping out chapters. I will definitely try to set aside time everyday to write. I know I really want to now that I have my inspiration back.
> 
> With that being said, enjoy the chapter!

“Ok, this is the last of it,” Lisa said as she poured the beans into an intricately designed bowl. “Chris, can you help Astraea take these to the table?”

After their chat, the actor had run after the blonde into the kitchen determined to question her about all of her supposed “dirt” that she on him, but had found himself immediately silenced by the look on his mother’s face. His mother had quickly admonished him for running into the kitchen, reminding him how easily he could knock into someone on the other side. Astraea was grinning behind his mother’s back obviously pleased with herself for getting him into trouble.

Before Chris had a chance to reply, the sound of the front door opening caught their attention and a loud obnoxious cry caused Astraea to freeze in place.

“Ma! We’re back!”

Chris watched as Astraea looked at Lisa, her body tense with worry of being discovered. “It’s Scott,” she whispered. “What do I do?”

“Go hide in the garage until everyone settles at the table. I’ll give you a signal and, once everyone’s settled, you can come out and surprise him.” Lisa ushered Astraea towards the back door. “Go!”

Just as Astraea was safely hidden away, Scott burst into the kitchen, almost hitting Chris with the door.  
  
“Hey, watch it.” Chris cried. He looked at his mom to see if she would admonish Scott the way she did him, but from the look on her face, Chris could tell she was pretending to be ignorant. He gave her a look, but she wouldn’t look in his direction, choosing to focus on his hyper brother instead.  
  
Scott took an exaggerated breath and moaned in delight. “Oh, what is that glorious smell?”

Lisa’s surprise of Scott’s sudden entrance and near discovery of Astraea was quickly hidden behind a warm smile. Chris was impressed at how well she managed to keep her cool. There was no doubt as to where he'd gotten his acting skills from.

“Hey, sweetie!” Lisa beamed. “That smell happens to be your favorite dinner.”

Scott started removing lids from dishes to take a quick peak inside each one, wafting the steam into his face. He joyfully expressed his excitement over the meal, telling their mother that he was looking forward to eating it, but Chris could tell that Scott was hiding his other emotions. Very rarely did the Evans children use their acting talents against their parents or each other, always choosing to be open with one another. For Scott to be putting on a mask in front of their  _mother_ told Chris that Scott’s feeling went far deeper than he had first thought.

Scott turned to Lisa and gave her a hug. “Thanks, Ma.”

Lisa gave Scott a gentle squeeze around his waist; unbeknownst to both her boys, she knew exactly what was going on. Scott was her baby boy. He could act around her all he wanted, but it didn’t stop her from being able to read him like a book.

“It was my pleasure, sweetheart.” Lisa pulled back slightly to look Scott in the eye. “I know how much you wish she could have been here.” Her thumb gently stroked Scott’s cheek as she observed the small smile that Scott gave her. His mind obviously clouded with thoughts of his friend.

“Yeah,” Scott grunted, clearing his throat. “It would have been nice had she been here, but I know she wouldn’t have wanted me to mope around.”

Lisa nodded in agreement. “No, she wouldn’t have. Now come on, you two. Help me take these dishes into the dining room.”

Chris slapped Scott on the back comfortingly as he passed him to take the dish his mom was holding out. The two boys headed into the dining room and set the dishes down, Lisa right behind them with her own.

“Hey, mom, you need any help?” Shanna asked as she walked into the room.

“Yes, could you go get Carly and the kids and tell them that dinner is ready?”

“Sure, I think she was gonna go clean them up for dinner. I’ll go help her.”

As Lisa, Chris, and Scott finished setting out the food, the rest of the family piled in, each person settling themselves at a seat. At that moment, the doorbell rang, which caused Scott to fly out of his seat towards the entrance way. The low baritone of what was obviously a male voice sounded throughout the house once Scott opened the front door.

“Grandpa!” Ethan yelled as he jumped out of his chair and ran towards the new figure that had just walked into the room.

Dr. Robert Evans was standing just behind Scott as they came into view. He playfully grunted as Ethan flew into his legs. “Well, hey there, squirt. How are you?” He ruffled Ethan’s hair as the 5-year-old just giggled in answer.

His giggles soon turned into shrieks of joy as the patriarch of the Evans family hoisted him into the air, Ethan’s laughter resounding throughout the room.

Robert chuckled as he set his oldest grandson onto his hip. “Ethan, either you’re getting too big or I’m getting too old. Let’s hope it’s the former.” He set Ethan onto his chair by his mother and pressed a kiss to Carly’s head, his daughter giving him a greeting, and rubbed Miles’ hair as he passed. Robert chuckled at the scowl that was planted on the 3 year olds face at not being able to join his older brother in being lifted into the air considering he was trapped in a high chair. He was just about to sit at the head of the table, to the left of Carly, when his eldest boy caught his eye.

“Hey, Pop.” Chris greeted with a wide smile, coming around the table to wrap his father in one of his famous bear hugs.

“Well if it isn’t my long-lost son,” Robert laughed. “How’s the famous life treating you?”

“Oh, you know, it has its ups and downs,” Chris shrugged. “I’m excited to finally be back home though. Take a break from all the Hollywood drama. How’s the teeth business?”  
  
Robert laughed at his son’s reference of his career. “The teeth business is good. You know me; fixing America’s teeth one smile at a time.”

“You are the real superhero, Pop,” Chris smiled, as he slapped his dad’s shoulder, showing off his own pearly whites that Robert had invested his own time in. Chris had missed talking to his father. He regretted that he didn’t take the time to do it more often when he was away.

“Gotta stick to the superhero family business. Learned that one from you,” Robert returned, his eyes twinkling as he wrapped his arm around Chris’ shoulder.

“How’s the family doing?” Chris asked.

“They’re doing well. Jean’s at home with the kids right now, the girls came down with a cold. It seems it’s starting to turn into that time of year; the weather turns cooler and more refreshing, but utterly relentless on the human body.” Robert lightly joked. “Bobby is running around like a champ though. I swear it would take an army to take that kid down.”

Chris chuckled and pat his dad on the shoulder, “Ah well, tell the girls I hope they start to feel better. Is it ok if I stop by sometime and say hello?”

“Of course! The kids would love to see their big brother.”

Chris smiled. “Ok, just let me know when the family is free; maybe we can get together and do something. I’m eager to spend as much time with everyone as I can while I have this small break from work.”

“Great! Let me talk to Jean and see if we can make a day to have you over for dinner. The kids will be so excited.” Robert gave Chris a quick squeeze around his shoulders before Lisa caught their attention.

“Ok, everyone. Let’s all sit and dig in.” Lisa announced.

As the family sat down, the conversation immediately started. Ethan and Miles had started a chant for food with Scott immaturely joining along with them. Shanna rolled her eyes at Scott good naturedly, and Carly just shook her head in amusement as she dished food onto Miles’ plate, Chris doing the same for Ethan and Robert helping with Stella.

Before Lisa had a chance to start filling her plate, the timer from the oven went off. “Excuse me, everyone, I almost forgot about the rolls.” As she placed her napkin on the table and stood to exit the dining room, Lisa caught Chris’ eye, a playful smile dancing on her lips.

He subtly glanced at Scott, who was happily plopping a heaping scoop of mashed potatoes onto his plate, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

A few minutes later, his mother reentered the room and quietly sat at her seat, the rolls she went to retrieve absent from her hands.

Scott gave his mother a look as he passed the green beans over to Chris. “Ma, did you forget something? You know I’m wondering if we should start thinking about taking you in to get checked out. They say that the first stages of Alzheimer’s starts to kick in at around your age. Of course, we can’t factor out the possibility that it could also be Dementia."

Lisa’s eyebrows had steadily risen with each word that came out of Scott’s mouth, and Chris was desperately trying to keep a straight face, his lips pursed together as Scott continued to dig his grave deeper and deeper.

Scott leaned over towards his mom in mock concern. “Quick, can you tell me what today’s date is? What’s your name? How many children do you have? Oh my God, do you even remember me?”

As Scott continued to tease Lisa, he failed to notice the door to the kitchen swing open behind him. Though smiles grew on the faces of everyone at the table, before anyone had a chance to say anything, a voice interrupted Scott’s rambling.

“You know you really shouldn’t tease your mother like that.”

Chris watched as Scott completely froze at the sound of the voice that floated towards his ears. Scott didn’t even seem to register the excited cries of  _Aunt Rae_ that came from their nephews as he slowly turned to look behind him. Chris looked towards his mom and saw the mischievous little smirk that she was giving Scott, the quirk of her lips almost saying,  _I’ll bet that’s the last time you make fun of me_.

Chris studied his brother’s reaction as the blonde just stood there looking almost bored while absentmindedly chewing on a dinner roll, a small basket filled with the rest of the rolls held in her other arm.

She looked at the roll she was eating with an appreciative eye before addressing his mom. “Huh, you know these are really good, Lisa. How’d you make them? It’s like there’s butter infused right into the roll.” She took another bite of the roll, her eyes rolling back into her head as she let out a pleased little moan.

Chris couldn’t help but track the way her tongue slipped out of her mouth to swipe along her plump bottom lip. The noise she made caused a slight tingle to run down his spine. He quickly shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. He shouldn’t be thinking like that. He'd just met the girl! How would she feel if she knew what was going through his mind right now? If his mom could read his thoughts, Chris had no doubt that she would smack him upside the head right then and there for it.

“Now that, my dear, is a secret family recipe.” Lisa answered with a smile. Her eyes going back and forth from the son stuck in shock to the girl who was completely ignoring said son.

Astraea placed the basket of rolls on the corner of the table near Scott’s elbow, continuing with her game. “Come on, Lisa. You’re gonna have to make an exception to that rule. I am just  _dying_  to know what you did to these rolls to make them finger licking good.” She finished off the roll, her digits disappearing into her mouth to do just that.

Chris shamefully couldn’t help but track those movements as well.

“Tell you what, I will think about bending my rule only because I love you so much.” Lisa said.

Astraea reached down and gave Scott’s shoulder a squeeze. “Aww, did you hear that, Scotty? Your momma loves me.” She quickly looked to Lisa for confirmation. “More than Scott, right?”

Scott slapped his hand upon the table, the glassware rattling a bit with the force of his hit. “Are you kidding me?” He shouted.

Everyone at the table froze, mildly shocked at his reaction. A few seconds passed before they found their worry was all for not when Scott’s lips broke into a huge grin.  
  
“I can’t believe you’re here!” Scott quickly jumped up and wrapped the blonde into his arms, spinning her in a small circle, while Astraea just laughed and held on tightly to his shoulders.  
  
“Scott, be careful!” Lisa said loudly over the sound of the laughter in the room. Despite her admonishment, the laughter couldn’t help but escape her as well.

Scott put Astraea down but kept his arm wrapped around her shoulder then turned to the rest of the room. “Everyone, look! Astraea’s here!”

“We know, Scott.” Carly laughed. “I’m pretty sure we were all aware before you even were.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a new record for the amount of time that you’ve spaced out.” Shanna chimed in, the girls giggling with each other.

“Hey,” Scott interjected, disrupting their mocking. “I was just in a mild state of shock. I wasn’t exactly expecting this one to show up out of nowhere.” Scott lightly shook Astraea before looking down at her, the top of her head barely grazing his chin. “Someone texted me this morning and told me they were currently in the capital of France.”

“I’m sorry I tricked you. I just thought it’d be a nice surprise, that’s all.” Astraea gave him an innocent look. “You didn’t really think I’d miss the eighth most important day of the year, did you?”

“Um, excuse you? What are you talking about the eighth most important day? Today should be number one. As a matter of fact, where is this list you speak of? I demand to see it.” Scott huffed in playful frustration before the broad form of his older brother caught his eye.

Scott looked at Chris, and then he looked at Astraea, his eyes going back and forth between the two people before his thoughts finally connected. “Oh my God,” Scott inhaled a breath in excitement as his hands came up to cover his mouth, “It’s finally happening.”

Chris barely avoided knocking into the table as Scott hauled him up out of his chair and brought him over to stand in front of the gorgeous blonde. They stood there in silence, their eyes crossing every once in awhile as they waited for something to happen, but all Scott did was heave a deep breath and close his eyes as a serene smile came across his face.

“Scott-” Chris started, but his brother just shushed him, his eyes still closed.  
  
“Don’t ruin this moment for me, Chris. Just let me take it in.”

“That’s what she said.” Astraea whispered quietly under her breath, but not quiet enough, apparently.

“Astraea Rayne,” Lisa scolded while Carly and Shanna tried to suppress their laughter. Robert just shook his head and continued to eat, used to the girls' antics.

“What? I’m sorry!” Astraea defended herself. “It just came out. That’s what she said. I’m sorry!” Astraea covered her mouth with her hands. “I can’t help it.”

 Chris couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the girl across from him. His hand escaping Scott’s to slap over his left pec.

 Scott gave the blonde a stern look. “I said  _don’t ruin it, Astraea_. Now’s not the time for your filthy jokes.”

“Scott, a good moment for me requires about 50 inappropriate jokes. Now, can you hurry your moment along? The food is getting cold and everyone has started eating.”

Chris looked over at the table to see exactly that had happened. It seemed that the rest of the family had quickly gotten bored of Scott’s antics and continued on with dinner.

“Guys, what the heck?” Scott whined. “This is my birthday dinner; why are you eating without me?”

“Like Raea said, the food was getting cold,” Shanna said, cutting into her chicken.

“And we’re hungry.” Carly added as she scooted some green beans back on Miles’ plate that he tried to shove off. “And you’re being entirely over dramatic about this whole situation.”

“I am not being overdramatic,” Scott exclaimed. “I am being the perfect amount of dramatic. I have been waiting for this moment for nearly three years, and God damn it, none of you are going to take this away from me!”

“Scott, they already met,” Lisa bluntly said, taking a sip of her tea while taking the moment away from him.  
  
Scott paused. “Come again?”

“Yeah… about that…” Chris started, feeling a little guilty at the look on his brother’s face.

“We kind of already met.” Astraea finished slowly.

Scott looked back and forth between his friend and his brother. “You have got to be kidding me.” He plopped down in his chair at the head of the table, Chris doing the same on his left. Lisa had scooted towards the center of the table towards Shanna, leaving the space on Scott’s right open for Astraea to set a chair which she promptly sat down in. “Three years of anticipation and I completely miss it.” Scott said in disbelief.

Astraea grabbed his hand, squeezing it lightly. “It’s ok, Scott. It was just a meeting.”

Scott took his hands away to run them down his face. “It wasn’t just a meeting, it was  _the_ meeting,” he groaned into his palms. He uncovered his face to look at them both expectantly. “So, what happened? How did you guys come across each other?”

Chris looked over at Astraea, his cheeks warming a bit as he caught her smirking at him, a twinkle forming in her beautiful ice blue eyes. He just couldn’t decide if it was evil or endearing.

Astraea’s smirk slid from Chris over to Scott. “Oh, nothing happened. Just your regular, run of the mill meeting.”

Scott gave her a  _whatever_ look. “Come on, this is you we’re talking about. Something interesting had to have happened.”

“Astraea, I don’t know why you’re covering for him. I’m honestly still appalled by that entire situation.” Lisa shook her head as she placed some dinnerware in front of Astraea, the blonde silently thanking her with a smile.

Shanna gave her mom an interested look. “What exactly happened?” Robert and Carly looked at them in curiosity as well. Ethan, Miles, and Stella were too preoccupied by the food to care. Their little eyes gazing up at the adults every once in awhile.

“Yes, Christopher,” his mom said, her piercing gaze going straight through him. “Why don’t you tell everyone what happened?”

Chris saw everyone’s eyes looking at him expectantly. He froze, not knowing what to say, but kind of wanting to laugh at the whole situation. The blonde sitting across from him certainly wasn’t helping the situation as she sat back with her full lips pursed and her arms crossed over her chest, her crystal blue eyes on him as well. She looked to be waiting in anticipation to see how he would explain himself out of this. He looked at her, silently pleading with her to help him out. She just dropped her head towards her chest and her shoulders started shaking with silent laughter. He was about to go on defensive mode when Astraea started talking instead.

“Lisa, it’s ok. You don’t have to put him on the spot like that.” She lightly waved her hand. “Like I said, nothing happened.”

“It is certainly not ok,” his mother said sternly. “You could have gotten really hurt.” Lisa’s blue eyes that all her children inherited softened as she looked at the musician on her left. Chris saw his mom’s eyes quickly dart to Astraea’s head, no doubt thinking about the minor bump the girl sustained.

“But I didn’t and I’m fine.” Astraea reassured, laying a hand on Lisa’s forearm as she drew the woman’s eyes back to her own. “It was just an accident; and besides, I now have another hilarious memory to add to my book of unforgettable first impressions.” Astraea said with a sly smile.

Lisa looked the musician over with a critical eye. “Ok, fine, I’ll let this one go,” she sighed. Turning to Chris, she pointed her fork in his direction. “But don’t you think you’ll be getting off this easily in the future, young man. You’re lucky Astraea is so pretty.”

Chris threw his hands up, chuckling in disbelief. “Ma, it was an accident.”

“What does her being pretty have to do with you forgetting Chris’ folly?” Scott interjected, giving a jokingly snide look at his friend.

Astraea stuck out her tongue. “You’re just jealous of me and my good looks.”

Chris watched as his mom reached over and tapped the underside of Astraea’s chin. “Pop that back inside your mouth, young lady.”

The blonde immediately slipped the appendage back behind her teeth and gave his mother an innocent grin. Scott started taunting her for being admonished like a child and Astraea reached underneath the table and did something to Scott that caused him to yelp in surprise.

Chris couldn’t help but watch every interaction Astraea had with his family. From the way his mother treated the blonde like she was her own child to the way Scott teased, laughed, and loved her like she was just another little sister. This girl fit so effortlessly within the dynamics of his family. Watching her with his family was way more different than hearing about all they would get up too. He was glad to finally be in the fold, a part of him always feeling a little left out when he heard the newest memory they had all made together.

Scott rubbed at his thigh. “She pinched me! Ma!” Lisa just ignored him, continuing on with her meal. Scott halfheartedly glared at the blonde. “Real mature, Raea. How old are you again?”

Astraea’s voice seemed to turn to steel. Despite her stern tone, there was nothing but humor in her eyes. “You really wanna bring age into this, Evans?” Astraea leaned towards Scott, her arms crossed on the table “Cause at least I’m old enough to know the difference between water and vinegar.”

The rest of the table laughed at Scott as he covered his face in embarrassment. “Oh my God, that was one time!”

“One time was enough, sweetheart,” Lisa told him.

“Yeah, how do you even get those two mixed?” Astraea laughed. “Vinegar has a crazy distinct smell.”

“I told you I was sick! My nose was all stuffed up!”

“Guys, come on. Scott’s stupidity isn’t anything new,” Shanna interrupted. “I still really want to hear about what happened between Chris and Astraea?” Her comment received an indignant “hey” from Scott.

Chris leaned his elbows on the table, the fingers of his right hand stroking his beard at his chin as he focused his attention on Scott. “You know, I’m really interested in this vinegar story.”

“I’m interested in both those stories,” Robert added. “And you and I are gonna have a more in-depth conversation about this vinegar situation, son.” He addressed Scott who groaned in embarrassment.

“We’re getting off track here.” Scott said, slouching in his chair. He sat up quickly though as he leaned towards Chris. “The main issue is what you, brother, did to our darling Astraea that has caused mother dearest to be so irked with you.”

“Why is everyone so eager to hear about my failings?” Chris asked defensively as his family ganged up on him. He felt like his lips were about to crack with how much he was smiling.

“We like to knock you down off your pedestal every once in awhile.” Carly grinned at him. “Keeps you humble.”

“Ok, everyone, it wasn’t that big of a deal.” Astraea interjected, her tone light as she waved away their questions and teasing. “Chris just startled me that’s all. I was in the garage trying to reorganize the fridge so I could fit Scott’s cake inside, and I saw Chris out of the corner of my eye, and as I turned around, I tripped and fell back, then hit my head on one of the shelves inside the fridge.” Astraea finished, giving a matter of fact look at everyone at the table. “Can someone pass me the green beans?”

“You forgot about the part where he was holding a bat,” Lisa said dryly.

“You were what?” Scott nearly yelled as he rounded on his brother.

“Oh my God, that is too good.” Shanna laughed, holding her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. Carly had just taken a sip of water and was trying to hold it in without it coming out her nose, and Chris caught his dad trying to hide a grin behind his napkin.

Chris massaged his index finger and thumb over his eyes trying to prepare himself mentally for the backlash he was about to receive. “I didn’t know there was anyone else in the house aside from mom, and when I heard noises in the garage, I grew concerned.” Chris explained, his palms flat on the table. “The bat was just a precaution.”

“Yeah, because Astraea looks like she’s gonna just come at you with all her 130-pound strength.” Carly teased.

“Hey,” Astraea whined. “I can be threatening.”

Scott gave her look. “Sweet cheeks, you are about as threatening as a bunny rabbit in a field of flowers on a spring day.”

Astraea lightly flicked some of the potatoes that she had plopped on her plate at Scott in retaliation. Scott dodged the small bit of food and laughed as he picked up the tray of chicken that was near Chris and held it out for her. “Here you go, Rae. Don’t want you to sprain those twigs you call arms.”

“Ha, ha, very funny.” Astraea grumbled, snatching the tray from Scott’s hands as he held it out to her. “I can hold my own if the situation calls for it.”

Lisa speared some beans with her fork. “Scott, stop messing with Astraea.”

Scott guffawed as he looked at his mom, waving his knife and fork around. “Ma! She messes with me all the time!”

The family laughed as Lisa just continued eating, acting like she didn’t hear what Scott said and Astraea gave Scott a little smirk before it disappeared behind a bite of chicken.

The jokes continued amidst the meal, the family laughing at the banter that Scott and Astraea continued to throw back and forth and each other. Chris thought it was particularly funny how Scott received so much heat from their mom for teasing Astraea, but she turned a blind eye towards the blonde’s teasing towards his brother.

And throughout all this, Chris couldn’t stop the way his eyes trailed right back towards the blonde. He tried not to stare at her, he really did, but there was something about her that just caused his eyes to gravitate towards her every move. The way she properly held her utensils, how she delicately cut into her food, the way she covered her mouth when his family made her laugh, and how her eyes would twinkle when his nephews and niece got her attention across the table. He especially studied the way she looked at his parents. The pure respect and admiration that showed in her eyes gave him pause, and especially the pure love that emanated from her when she looked at or spoke with his siblings caused his heart to still. He felt a slight nudge on his shin and looked over to see that Scott had just looked away from him. His brother shoveled a forkful of green beans in his mouth, but Chris saw the small smirk he was trying to suppress. Thankful for his brother in that moment despite his minor teasing, Chris hadn’t even realized that he had once again been staring at Astraea for far too long. Fortunately, she was too engrossed in making lunch plans with his dad to realize he had been staring at her like a creeper. He caught a small grin that his mom had thrown his way though, knowing she she had caught him, but she quickly went back to her conversation with his sisters.

Unfortunately, not looking at her didn’t really help him either. The sound of her voice was just as captivating as watching her was. Her voice was as smooth as glass and had a velvety undertone. He could freely say that he loved listening to her laugh and, from the little he had learned about her so far, laughing was one of her favorite things to do. There seemed to be a musical quality to her laugh and her giggles reminded him of the serene sound of tinkling bells.

Ethan, who was sitting on his left, pulled on his sleeve just then. Though he tried to give the 5-year-old his full attention, he really did, he just couldn’t help the quick little glances that his eyes constantly made towards the musician.

He watched as she joked with Scott, her hand brushing her hair over her left shoulder, her slender digits running through the smooths strands. Her hair looked so soft and the color, God, the color is what he imagined would be if you could physically capture sunlight. He felt his fingers twitch in a sudden urge to run them through the silky looking strands as well, wondering if it was as soft as it looked.

Ethan quickly caught his attention once more and he strived to be more engaged with his nephew.

As dinner wound down, Lisa urged everyone to stay seated and relax as she started clearing the table. Astraea completely ignored her though as she stood and started collecting empty plates. She gathered hers and Scott’s, and when she got around to Chris, he tried to stand to help her but she blocked his way and promptly seized his empty plate. He quirked his lips in resigned defeat as he watched her glide into the kitchen after his mother and Carly. The table was quickly cleared and as his mother walked into the dining room holding ice cream, dessert plates, and utensils, right behind her was Astraea holding the aforementioned cake.

There were lots of  _oohs_  and  _aahs_  that went around as the cake was brought into view, and once Astraea had set the cake down in front of Scott, he just burst out laughing.

“Oh my God,” Scott laughed, “did you make this?” He turned to look at Astraea, wiping a tear from his eye.

The blonde smiled as she started to lite the candles that were placed on top of the cake. “Sure did. All from scratch as well.”

It was a round, three-layered chocolate cake, covered in cookies and cream-colored frosting, sprinkled with Oreo dust, with chocolate Oreos sticking out of swirls that were placed on the top edge of the cake. Needless to say, it looked like heaven.

“What’s the joke?” Shanna asked.

“Inside joke, only cool people are allowed to know,” Scott answered quickly. Shanna stuck her tongue out at him, which Scott quickly returned. That caused an immediate chiding from Lisa about where tongues are supposed to be, the appendages disappeared quickly, but not without the two youngest siblings swapping snooty looks at each other.

“I also can’t believe that you went out of your way to place 31 individual candles on top of the cake,” Scott added, an amused look on his face. “You do know that they’ve invented those numbered candles right?”

Astraea raised her eyebrows at him. “I think it’s funny you thought I’d make this easy for you. Gotta work for that wish. And besides, you do it to me every year.” Scott playfully rolled his eyes in return.

“Astraea, you’re trying to kill me,” Carly groaned as she gazed at the cake.

Astraea laughed. “I know how you feel. I swear I gained like 20 pounds just by making this thing.”

Chris looked at the cake longingly as well. “My trainer is going to kill me.”

“And won’t it be a sweet, sweet death.” Astraea sighed at him then grinned. “Literally.”

Ethan and Miles once again started a chant which revolved around the cake, that both Scott and Chris joined in on. Stella just laughed along with them, her little hands clapping off beat.

Lisa settled everyone down so they could start the birthday song. With everyone back in their seats, Lisa dimmed the lights so the glow of the candles was the only prominent light source.

“Everyone ready?” Lisa asked.

As the song started, Chris’ ears honed in on Astraea’s voice. While the rest of the family was singing loud and boisterous as only they would do, Astraea was singing gently, a smile on her face as she watched his brother and, though she was infinitely quieter than everyone else, God did her voice stand out among the rest. Her voice didn’t falter, it didn’t crack, not even on the high part at the end of the song did her voice sway from the key that the song was started in. He knew she was a music producer and composer, but he didn’t know that she also had ‘the voice of an angel’ on her resume as well. He could listen to her sing all day if it was possible.

Astraea’s eyes found his across the table and, though he was embarrassed that she had caught him staring at her, he could have sworn he saw a slight blush rise on her cheeks right before she looked away. It could have been a trick of the light though. The glimmer of the candles caused a warm glow and small shadows to dance across her face.

As the song came to an end, everyone clapped as Scott blew out his candles. Lisa turned the lights back on and walked over to help Astraea start serving the cake and ice cream.

Scott took a bite out of his cake and his eyes promptly rolled into the back of his head as he moaned in delight. “Oh my god, I think I just entered heaven's gates.”

“This is wicked good,” Chris exclaimed as he dug into his own piece. “No one tell my trainer about this please.”

Astraea slipped her fork from her mouth, lightly swaying back and forth in happiness at hearing everyone’s praise of her baking skills. “Thank you and you’re welcome.”

“So, Scott, what did you wish for?” Carly asked.

“That’s for me to know and for you to never find out.” Scott said, crumbs from an Oreo falling from his mouth.

“Oh, Scott,” Shanna said in disgust. “Can you please chew with your mouth closed?”

Scott shoved a chunk of cake into his mouth. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“Remind me to never let you babysit,” Carly commented as she wiped frosting off of Ethan’s cheek. “You set a horrible example.”

Everyone else at the table nodded in agreement as Scott whined in offense.

“Astraea, promise me that you’ll make my birthday cake next year.” Chris pleaded around a mouthful of the delicious dessert.

Astraea laughed, as she scooped some vanilla ice cream with the cake onto her fork. “Sure, just tell me what you like and I’ll do my best to make it.”

“Oh, I think this one wins already.”

Astraea shrugged and gave him a look. “Well… you never know. You just might stumble upon something even better that you never expected to find.”

She looked back down at her piece of cake, her attention going back to her food, but Chris’ eyes never left her. He didn’t know if there was a double meaning behind her words, but by God, did his heart start beating faster.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this chapter; getting inside Chris' head is so much fun. I've always loved reading love stories from the guy's point of view and seeing what they think. I also love writing the Evans family. Not to be conceited, but I often start laughing while I'm writing the banter and the jokes between them. I might be the only one but I think I'm hilarious :D
> 
> Anyway, please leave a comment! Let me know what you thought about the characterization, what you're favorite part was, what you thought about the chapter overall. I'd love to know what you think!!
> 
> Until next time! (Hopefully next time's not another 7 months *hangs head in shame*)


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